Meta Adds Video Avatars, Email Addresses, and Mac Control to Muse AI Agent

Meta expanded the capabilities of its AI agent Muse at Meta Connect 2026, adding real-time video chat with customizable avatars, dedicated email addresses, and the ability to control Mac applications.

The update, announced this week, gives Muse a persistent digital identity — users can now email the agent directly and receive responses, and interact with it through live video conversations rendered via avatar. On desktop, Muse can now take actions inside Mac apps rather than being limited to chat-based responses.

According to Meta, Muse will also arrive on the company's smart glasses "in the coming months," where it will convert spoken conversations into actions such as adding items to a shopping list or scheduling a meeting. No exact release date was given for the glasses integration.

New hardware alongside the software update

Meta used the Connect 2026 keynote to introduce several hardware products alongside the Muse changes:

• Muse Charm — A Tamagotchi-style companion device with a 2-inch display, 5G connectivity, and its own operating system. CTO Andrew Bosworth described it as "an exploration" rather than a core part of Meta's AI hardware strategy. Meta expects it to ship by December 2026.
• Ray-Ban Meta Audio Glasses — A camera-free version of the smart glasses line, starting at 349 euros.
• Third-generation Ray-Ban Meta glasses, starting at 449 euros.
• VR glasses priced at $1,299, arriving in spring 2027.

Meta also confirmed plans to extend its "Private Processing" system to the new glasses lineup. The system is designed to prevent Meta itself from accessing certain user data processed on-device, though the company did not provide a rollout timeline.

What this means

Muse's shift from a chat interface toward an agent with an email address, a video presence, and OS-level control on Mac signals Meta's intent to position it as a persistent, addressable assistant rather than a session-based chatbot. Giving an AI agent its own email address is a notable interface choice — it turns the agent into something closer to a contact than a tool, and raises immediate questions about how Meta will handle spam, phishing risk, and data retention on that inbox.

The hardware slate matters more for near-term business impact than the software update does. Dropping the camera on the new Ray-Ban Audio Glasses to hit a 349-euro price point suggests Meta is testing a lower-cost entry tier to widen adoption, while the $1,299 VR glasses and the Muse Charm read as parallel bets on different form factors rather than a converged product line. Bosworth's own framing of the Muse Charm as a side exploration, not a strategic pillar, suggests Meta itself isn't confident which of these devices — if any — becomes the primary way people interact with Muse long-term. The lack of a timeline for Private Processing on glasses, given the sensitivity of always-on audio and camera devices, is the detail worth watching most closely as these products near release.