A cartoon face on your AI assistant will make some people feel at home and others feel uneasy, and families should decide which camp they are in before it shows up on a teen’s phone. When AI first came out, it was a bit overwhelming and people seemed either threatened or overwhelmed by it. Claude and ChatGPT have continued to improve their products’ usability with more user-friendly, consolidated features lately.
With Meta making one of their AI interfaces a cute avatar that talks with and to you, that “warm and fuzzy” feeling will continue to reduce complaints and lower barriers to entry for more and more people.
But as these services become friendlier and easier to use, people should be careful not to be sucked into them. Think about how social media (e.g., algorithms and “doom scrolling”) has become addictive. I could easily see this Muse AI Agent (and others) becoming equally addictive. I don’t use it, but I fully admit that AI is quite addictive for me (and I don’t even use voice with it).