Meta launches Muse for small businesses, linking its AI agent to Shopify

Meta is bringing its Muse AI agent to small businesses, letting owners connect it to the software they already use to run their companies, the company announced today.

The new version, Muse for Small Business, works with Shopify, Stripe, Canva and Intuit’s QuickBooks, among others.

The agent can also read analytics from Instagram business accounts and Facebook Pages, and work with Meta ad accounts.

It also plugs into work apps such as Slack, Zoom, Notion, Figma and Dropbox, and owners can build their own connectors for services Meta does not yet support.

With those connections, Muse can draw on a company’s brand, online shop, accounts and customer records. Meta said the agent will not post content, send messages or buy anything without the owner’s approval.

One early tester, Iowa grocer Tom Mulholland, said in Meta’s announcement that he works about 65 hours a week.

“I need to free up time for the work that actually makes my business money: cutting the steaks, making the sausages,” he said.

Meta says many users already work this way. Roughly one in three people who tried Muse early on has connected it to a business account of some kind, Vishal Shah, Meta’s vice president of AI products, told Axios.

“People are using Muse to run their business,” Shah said. “We’re going to make it easier to do so.”

Meta introduced Muse on 8 September as a personal assistant that can shop, book travel, send emails, and make payments for users in the US and Canada.

It has since become the number one free app in both the United States and Canada. Reuters, citing estimates from Sensor Tower, says it was downloaded about 2.8 million times in its first two weeks.

The launch has also faced opposition. Last week, Amazon removed Muse from its store, stating that the agent had not identified itself and appeared to be storing customers’ login credentials, a claim Meta denies.

The initiative aimed at small businesses is part of a broader strategy to generate income beyond advertising, since advertising accounts for nearly all of Meta’s revenue.

On Monday, the company announced an enterprise platform through which it will sell its AI to larger companies and has appointed CJ Desai, CEO of MongoDB, to head the venture.

Most people can use Muse at no cost, while paid plans offer higher usage limits. Meta also did not offer different pricing for the business version.