Meta’s Muse AI works and creeps me out

Meta 的 Muse AI：好用，但让我感到毛骨悚然

Meta has launched its new Muse assistant, marking the company’s first real foray into AI-powered productivity tools. The company says its AI agent can “take the busywork off your plate” by helping you with online shopping, emails, trip-planning, and more. I decided to try out the new tool and see how well it performed — especially from a company that previously prioritized entertainment over productivity. Though the AI assistant generally worked as I expected it to, the unnerving amount of information it autonomously gleaned about me largely overshadowed my experience.

Meta 推出了全新的 Muse 助手，标志着该公司首次真正涉足 AI 驱动的生产力工具领域。Meta 表示，这款 AI 智能体可以通过协助在线购物、处理邮件、规划行程等方式，帮你“分担繁琐的工作”。我决定亲自试用这款新工具，看看它的表现如何——尤其是考虑到这家公司此前一直将娱乐置于生产力之上。尽管这位 AI 助手的工作表现基本符合我的预期，但它自主获取的关于我的信息量之大，令人感到不安，这在很大程度上掩盖了我的使用体验。

One of the first tasks I assigned Muse, which carries out actions using a cloud-based virtual computer, was to sort through my Gmail inbox and delete messages I don’t need. That required me to connect Muse to my Google account and give it permission to access, read, and delete emails. The process didn’t go smoothly on mobile; the Google sign-in screen kept glitching and returning me to the Muse website instead of the app. I eventually got it working on my laptop, where it deleted thousands of promotional emails and updates. I didn’t feel good about permitting Muse to view all of my emails given Meta’s track record on privacy over the years.

我交给 Muse 的首批任务之一，是整理我的 Gmail 收件箱并删除不需要的邮件。Muse 是通过云端虚拟计算机来执行操作的，因此我必须将它与我的 Google 账号关联，并授予其访问、读取和删除邮件的权限。在移动端，这个过程并不顺利；Google 登录界面不断出现故障，总是把我跳回 Muse 网站而不是留在应用内。最终，我在笔记本电脑上成功完成了操作，它删除了数千封促销邮件和更新通知。考虑到 Meta 多年来在隐私保护方面的记录，允许 Muse 查看我所有的邮件让我感到很不舒服。

Meta says it designed Muse to only exchange data with third-party apps “that’s needed for them to work for you.” The company also says that it doesn’t share your information with advertisers. I still felt uneasy, but I pushed on anyway, linking my Amazon account to Muse. I asked the AI agent to pick out workout tops for me based on a specific size, style, and colors. Before placing the order, Muse noticed I had other items in my cart and asked if I wanted to remove them. The consideration pleasantly surprised me. Once I signed off on the purchase, it proceeded to successfully buy only the tank tops.

Meta 表示，他们设计 Muse 时只允许其与第三方应用交换“为你提供服务所必需”的数据。该公司还声称，不会与广告商共享你的信息。尽管我仍然感到不安，但我还是继续尝试，将我的亚马逊账号关联到了 Muse。我要求这位 AI 助手根据特定的尺码、款式和颜色为我挑选运动上衣。在下单前，Muse 注意到我的购物车里还有其他商品，并询问我是否需要移除它们。这种贴心的考虑让我感到惊喜。在我确认购买后，它成功地只购买了那些背心。

Shifting gears, I tried out some of Muse’s other capabilities, which allow it to generate AI podcasts similar to Gemini Notebook, create images and videos, as well as develop interactive webpages or documents called “artifacts.” Muse denied my requests to generate images of a “cartoon mouse with red pants” and a “cartoon guy with a red hat, blue overalls, brown hair, and a mustache.”

接下来，我尝试了 Muse 的其他功能，比如生成类似 Gemini Notebook 的 AI 播客、创建图像和视频，以及开发被称为“工件”（artifacts）的交互式网页或文档。当我要求它生成“穿着红裤子的卡通老鼠”和“戴着红帽子、穿着蓝色背带裤、棕色头发且留着胡子的卡通人物”的图像时，Muse 拒绝了我的请求。

However, it readily generated a video and several images of a product launch event featuring devices with Apple’s logo when asked. In one image, Muse created what looks like an iPhone-like foldable, an Apple Watch, and AirPods. Each device is propped up on a stand with Apple’s logo on it, while a presenter stands in front of a backdrop plastered with the company’s recognizable bitten apple. The phone even included Apple’s native app icons on the fake iPhone, though it hallucinated and named the App Store “Photos,” while calling Maps, Music, and the actual Photos app “Calender.” Muse refused to generate an image of an “Apple CEO.”

然而，当我要求它生成一场带有苹果标志的设备发布会的视频和几张图片时，它却欣然照办。在一张图片中，Muse 创作出了看起来像 iPhone 的折叠屏手机、Apple Watch 和 AirPods。每台设备都放置在带有苹果标志的支架上，背景板上印着苹果公司标志性的被咬了一口的苹果图案。手机屏幕上甚至显示了苹果的原生应用图标，尽管它出现了幻觉，把 App Store 命名为“照片”（Photos），而把地图、音乐和真正的照片应用都命名为“日历”（Calender）。Muse 拒绝生成“苹果公司 CEO”的图像。

Then things got weird. I tapped over to the “Feed” tab, where Muse generates a news feed of sorts based on a text prompt. I submitted the prompt that Meta includes by default: “Make me a feed about my interests. Keep the tone clear and direct. Ensure it is quick to skim. Try to avoid clickbait.” It returned several AI-generated summaries of current events, including blurbs about Apple’s iPhone Duo launch event, the dangerous surf hitting California’s coast, and tankers destroyed in the Iran war. The app also listed several news stories from the state where I’m currently visiting my family, which Muse admitted it pulled from the shipping address on my Amazon order.

事情随后变得诡异起来。我点击了“Feed”（信息流）标签页，Muse 会根据文本提示生成类似新闻流的内容。我输入了 Meta 默认提供的提示词：“根据我的兴趣为我生成信息流。保持语气清晰直接。确保易于快速浏览。尽量避免标题党。”它返回了几条 AI 生成的时事摘要，包括关于苹果 iPhone Duo 发布会、加州海岸的危险海浪以及伊朗战争中油轮被毁的简讯。该应用还列出了我目前探亲所在州的一些新闻，Muse 承认这些信息是从我亚马逊订单的收货地址中获取的。

I dove deeper from there and asked Muse what else it might know about me based on the Instagram and Facebook accounts I signed up to use the AI agent with. It rattled off my very specific interests, ranging from anime and CrossFit to Labrador retrievers, Florida wildlife, and ’90s/2000s nostalgia — many of the same topics that frequently pop up in my Instagram Reels feed.

我进一步追问 Muse，根据我注册该 AI 智能体时使用的 Instagram 和 Facebook 账号，它还了解我哪些信息。它如数家珍般列出了我非常具体的兴趣爱好，从动漫、CrossFit 健身到拉布拉多犬、佛罗里达野生动物，再到 90/00 年代怀旧情结——这些话题大多也是我 Instagram Reels 信息流中经常出现的内容。

Curious, I asked Muse to tell me where it got that information. “Honestly, Instagram doesn’t show you that exact list anywhere in the app — I read it through the account’s API data, which surfaces more than the UI does,” Muse wrote. “The closest thing you can see yourself is your ad topics… That shows the topics advertisers can target you with, and you can remove ones you don’t want or choose to see less of them.” I checked the “Ad topics” list in my Instagram settings menu, and while it does include some vague categories, like workouts, music, and electronics, it’s not the same level of detail that Muse provided. The Verge reached out to Meta about the data Muse can access inside Instagram and Facebook but didn’t immediately hear back.

出于好奇，我问 Muse 这些信息是从哪里获取的。Muse 回复道：“老实说，Instagram 应用内的任何地方都不会向你展示这份确切的列表——我是通过账号的 API 数据读取到的，这些数据比用户界面显示的内容要多得多。你唯一能自己看到的最接近的东西是‘广告主题’……它显示了广告商可以用来定位你的主题，你可以移除不想要的，或者选择减少看到它们。”我查看了 Instagram 设置菜单中的“广告主题”列表，虽然它确实包含一些模糊的类别，如健身、音乐和电子产品，但其详细程度远不及 Muse 提供的内容。The Verge 就 Muse 在 Instagram 和 Facebook 内可访问的数据向 Meta 进行了询问，但未立即收到回复。

Like some of the other agentic AI tools I’ve tried out, Muse does a decent job at performing low-stakes tasks. I also like that it generates a running list of “ideas” that give personalized suggestions on how to use the tool, like providing side-by-side comparisons of products, finding and cancelling forgotten subscriptions, and keeping track of the next release of Pokémon cards. Muse keeps a running list of “goals” to complete based on your conversations with the AI agent, too.

像我试用过的其他一些智能体 AI 工具一样，Muse 在处理低风险任务方面表现尚可。我也很喜欢它生成的“创意”列表，它会提供关于如何使用该工具的个性化建议，例如提供产品的并排对比、查找并取消被遗忘的订阅，以及追踪下一批宝可梦卡牌的发布时间。Muse 还会根据你与它的对话，维护一份待完成的“目标”清单。