Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Decision to Pull the Trigger on Meta’s A.I. Agent
Meta had delayed releasing Muse, its A.I. agent app, for months over safety concerns. Then new competition forced Mr. Zuckerberg’s hand.
Meta had delayed releasing Muse, its A.I. agent app, for months over safety concerns. Then new competition forced Mr. Zuckerberg’s hand.
Mark Zuckerberg, Meta’s chief executive, gathered two top lieutenants — Alexandr Wang, the chief artificial intelligence officer, and Nat Friedman, the head of A.I. product — in August to discuss an imminent threat.
A 14-person start-up called Instinct had created an A.I. agent, which are bots that can operate apps and software on behalf of users, and it was taking off. Meta was developing a similar product called Muse, but had delayed releasing it over safety concerns.
Fearful of losing a competitive edge, Mr. Zuckerberg said Muse was ready to launch despite the risks, according to three people with knowledge of the meeting, who were not authorized to speak publicly on confidential matters.
Mr. Wang, 29, and Mr. Friedman, 49, were aware of safety concerns from recent tests, including one instance when Muse changed a user’s password without permission, two of the people said. But on Sept. 8, Meta publicly debuted Muse, just like Mr. Zuckerberg had ordered.
The internal meeting showed the tricky balance between speed and safety that A.I. companies like Meta are juggling as they try to one-up their rivals in the A.I. race. As the technology rapidly improves, it is becoming more dangerous and useful at the same time, making these decisions even more difficult.
Mr. Zuckerberg has spent billions to develop Meta’s A.I., but watched for years as rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic beat his company to market with chatbots and coding tools. When it came to personal agents, the Silicon Valley giant, which owns Facebook and Instagram, needed a win — and ultimately, getting to market quickly won out.
