The News, Explained

On November 5, Meta announced that it was rolling out live voice and animated avatars for Muse, its personal AI assistant, starting in the United States. On mobile, web and Mac, the phone icon in the upper right starts a conversation. Muse is for people aged 18 and over; its US App Store listing requires iOS 18 or later on iPhone. Meta says voice is also coming to AI Glasses and Muse Charm, with no release date in the announcement. Source Source Source

An avatar is the character on screen that moves and reacts as the AI listens and speaks. You can hear the voice by itself, show the character beside the conversation, or give it the whole screen. You can also interrupt Muse while it is answering. If you were rehearsing a presentation and found a practice question too long, for example, you could cut in and ask for a shorter one. Source

Meta’s researchers say the voice and video use the same underlying speech signals. While one part of the system turns the reply into sound, another uses those signals to draw the mouth movements and expressions. The aim is to keep the motion and voice in step. Meta distinguishes the characters in its research demos from the selection in the app. Source

The display mode and the use of voice data are separate choices. Meta’s Muse Privacy Policy says interactions can include voice. The policy says use of interactions to develop and improve Meta’s AI models is on when you first use Muse. You can turn it off under Data controls in Settings. Meta says the change applies to past interactions as well. The voice launch announcement does not specify how long Meta keeps raw audio. Source Source

OYOPICK’s Take

For interview practice, being able to interrupt, ask again and keep talking without watching a screen seems more useful than having a lifelike character. That makes the voice-only option welcome. The choices about what happens to your voice should be just as easy to find. A link from the call screen to the model improvement setting, alongside a clear explanation of how long raw audio and conversation history are kept and how to delete each, would help people decide what to say out loud. Source Source