Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg used the company’s October 21 earnings call to make the case that Muse could become more than an AI assistant: shopping activity might eventually support a new revenue stream beyond advertising. The early usage figures are notable, but they do not yet show that Muse is profitable. Meta’s plan also depends on growing commerce revenue and substantially improving computing efficiency.
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Muse’s first six weeks: 10 million setups and daily use
Muse launched on September 8. By the earnings call, more than 10 million people in the U.S. and Canada had set up personal agents, Zuckerberg said.
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About 25% of people who set up Muse used it daily. Zuckerberg compared its early engagement with the starting levels of Threads and other AI apps, describing Muse’s as more than twice as high. That is a comparison of early engagement—not a claim that Muse gained sign-ups faster than Threads.
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These figures suggest that some early adopters are returning to the product. They do not, by themselves, establish long-term retention or how usage will change as Muse reaches more people.
Shopping gives Meta a possible route beyond ads
Shopping was Muse’s most common use case. Zuckerberg said more than a quarter of people using Muse engaged in shopping, with an average purchase size above $200. The figures describe participation and average transaction size; they do not show how often each person bought something.
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Zuckerberg also said Meta had to work with Stripe to raise credit limits during Muse’s first week because transaction volumes were higher than expected. That refers to the limits involved in handling transaction volumes; it does not mean shoppers individually needed higher credit limits.
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Meta’s longer-term argument is that an agent that helps people complete purchases could earn revenue from commerce, not just from advertising. Reporting on the call said Meta intends to charge businesses a fee for transactions Muse helps complete, although the available information does not specify the fee rate or when it would take effect.
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Earlier reporting described a free basic tier and $20 and $100 monthly subscription options. Those prices do not establish the features or limits of each plan, and they are distinct from Meta’s commerce-fee strategy.
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Protocol partnerships could connect agents and businesses
Meta is helping develop a Personal Agent Protocol with partners including Shopify, Walmart, Stripe, and Sierra. The proposed standard is intended to let a consumer’s agent interact securely and reliably with a business’s agent.
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That kind of connection could help turn a recommendation into a completed transaction. But the partnership and protocol are infrastructure for a possible commerce model, not evidence that the model is already generating substantial revenue.
The profitability case depends on computing costs
Muse’s computing demands are one reason Meta has limited its availability to the U.S. and Canada. Management said it expects to improve cost efficiency by more than tenfold over the following year and linked profitability to those improvements and revenue reaching scale. That is a goal, not evidence that Muse is already profitable or a guarantee it will be profitable within a year.
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The broader financial picture helps explain the stakes. Meta reported third-quarter revenue of $64.6 billion, up 26% year over year, and earnings of $3.83 per share.
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6 It also issued a stronger-than-expected fourth-quarter revenue outlook; Bloomberg reported that shares gained after the outlook and discussion of Muse’s revenue potential.
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Those company-wide results do not show how much revenue Muse itself contributes. The central question is whether early use—especially shopping—can grow into a durable business while the cost of running the agent falls.
What the call does—and does not—show
The call presented a promising combination: more than 10 million setups, daily use among about one-quarter of adopters, and shopping activity with an average purchase size above $200. Meta’s proposed transaction fees, agent-to-business protocol, and expected computing-efficiency gains sketch a path to monetization beyond ads.
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Important details remain unclear in the available reporting, including the features of the paid plans, the transaction-fee rate and timing, and whether merchants are concerned about losing direct customer relationships. The adoption figures are evidence of early interest, not proof of lasting retention or profitable unit economics. Meta’s own profitability case still depends on scaled revenue and sharply lower computing costs.
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