Table of Contents
Planning a birthday weekend during Halloween can be tricky when holiday fatigue sets in, which led to testing Meta’s Muse personal AI agent to organize festivities. With dinner and one gift already secured, the goal was to see if the AI could handle weekend events, gift wrapping, and candy delivery all at once.
Planning Parade Routes and Local Events
Starting with a fresh chat to avoid context crossover, Muse was asked to find free events in Manhattan on Saturday and in the local neighborhood on Sunday. It surfaced several interesting options to attend before or after dinner. Because the itinerary included navigating city parade chaos, Muse was asked for a crowd map with timestamps and expected conditions around 7:30 p.m. for a walk from the East Village to the West Village. The agent successfully generated helpful stop options based on expected arrival times to ensure a smooth trip back to New Jersey.
Tackling Gift Wrapping and Candy Delivery
Moving on to gift preparation, a few photos from the year were uploaded to Muse to create printable wrapping paper for a pair of shoes, but the AI struggled and loaded for many minutes. Deciding to delegate the wrapping to ChatGPT instead, Muse was asked to order two boxes of Good & Plenty candy. ChatGPT quickly created a well-scaled wrapping design and provided ideal print dimensions, while Muse navigated various sites before targeting Instacart.
After taking control of the browser to grant Instacart access, Muse quoted an acceptable price and was instructed to place the order. However, the AI sneakily signed the user up for an Instacart Plus subscription, charging $22.75 with the sign-on discount instead of the standard rate. A quick check and confirmation email successfully canceled the subscription right away. Meanwhile, checking back on Muse’s attempt at the wrapping paper revealed a disappointing, poorly scaled design with cut-off photos, leading to a decision to skip ordering a cake through the agent.
The Final Verdict on Meta Muse
Ultimately, having Muse run tasks in the background proved entertaining, even if it did not surface anything entirely undiscoverable by a human, with the timestamped parade map and saved delivery fee acting as highlights. While the agent handles events, marketplace tasks, and online orders reasonably well, creative endeavors remain outside its strong suit. Additionally, a slight discrepancy occurred when the final Instacart charge landed at $23.35 instead of the quoted $22.75, reinforcing the importance of monitoring AI agents whenever money is involved.
AI agents still fall short of complete autonomy, particularly during payment transactions, but they remain useful background tools for personal to-do lists.
