Meta's Muse is an impressively capable AI agent, despite some hiccups

Meta ( META ) is riding high on its Muse AI agent. The app has hit the top spot on both Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store and, according to market intelligence firm Sensor Tower, reached 560,000 daily active users after just 11 days.

The app's early success sent Meta stock soaring 11% on Monday , as the market digested the positive news.

AI agents are the next step in the evolution of AI. Rather than being chatbots like ChatGPT or Claude, agents use AI models to get things done.

They aren't new, either. OpenAI ( OPAI.PVT ), Anthropic ( ANTH.PVT ), Google ( GOOG , GOOGL ), and Amazon ( AMZN ) each offer their own agents, as do open-source firms. What sets Muse apart, however, is its focus on the consumer market.

The idea is for Muse to get things done on your behalf. That includes things like firing off emails, helping organize your schedule, and shopping for you.

I took the agent for a test run to see how it stacks up to the hype and came away impressed with how well it handled most of what I threw at it, even if it ran into a few hiccups along the way.

When you first fire up Muse, you'll get the option to name the AI agent a custom name. Muse suggested a few options, but I chose to stick to plain old Muse.

And then I got to work. I started out by asking the agent to provide me with hourly updates on the latest tech headlines from a variety of news sites, something that would instantly make my work life a bit easier. A small avatar that looks like a mix between an Ewok from "Star Wars" and Finn from "Adventure Time" started tapping away on a tiny keyboard at the top of the screen, indicating that Muse was processing my request.

The agent then came back with a confirmation that it would provide the headlines and links to the appropriate sites, even noting that some required subscriptions to access the full articles. Not too shabby.

I'm in the market for a new video game for my Nintendo Switch 2, so I figured, why not let Muse take the wheel and buy it for me? I asked the agent to get to it. Muse navigated to Nintendo's site and started the purchasing process, giving me a heads up as it moved through various steps. Once it got to the point where it needed to log into my Nintendo account, Muse asked for my information, noting that it would stay in secure storage and that the agent couldn't see or read what I typed.

Muse moved forward with the purchase, breaking down the total cost, saying it would charge it to my credit card on file with Nintendo, and prompting me to hit the buy button.