Meta Lets You Talk Face‑to‑Face With a Fluffy AI Dog

Meta’s latest move turns a virtual assistant into a living, breathing companion. The company now lets U.S. users video‑chat with Muse, its AI agent that appears as a cute, animated avatar—often a fluffy dog. The feature, unveiled at Meta’s Connect conference, uses two new models, Muse Realtime Avatar and Muse Realtime Voice, to sync speech, facial expressions and subtle gestures in real time.

Users can pick or design an avatar that looks like a person, an animal or any character they fancy. When the avatar speaks, Meta says it will match tone with gentle expressions, making the interaction feel more human. The demo posted by chief AI officer Alexandr Wang showed the avatar joking about meme etiquette, a playful nod to the platform’s culture.

Meta’s rollout comes ahead of a planned wearable called Muse Charm, a Tamagotchi‑style device that will display the avatar on a small screen and let users talk to it on the go. The company says the real‑time chat will soon appear on its AI Glasses and other hardware.

The real question is whether anthropomorphizing an AI will deepen user engagement.

If people feel a stronger bond with a talking avatar, Meta could push the boundary from virtual assistants to everyday companions.

Watch how users respond as the feature expands beyond the U.S. and into new devices.