Tech

Alexandr Wang’s #musemoneychallenge pitch says that Meta's new app can 'make you $1,000' almost instantly

Alexandr Wang
Alexandr Wang says using Muse can help people save $1,000 almost instantly. Bloomberg/Getty Images
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Meta's Alexandr Wang says using his new AI agent can almost instantly "make you $1,000."

Or rather, save you $1,000. Wang, Meta's chief AI officer, and his team have been posting on X over the past week about how users can prompt Muse to review their finances and identify ways to claw back cash.

Then, the AI agent is supposed to help execute those tasks in the background, à la haggling over the phone with insurance companies for better deals, unsubscribing from that streaming service you never use, and sifting through the web for discounts.

Wang has been encouraging users to post financial wins in what he calls the #MuseMoneyChallenge, following the AI agent's September 8 launch.

Some people are biting. Startup founder Joseph Devoy said he used Muse to find car insurance that cost him $3,500 less a year than his original plan.

"Killer product," he wrote while posting a screenshot of his interaction with Muse.

One user said the AI agent found an unused book subscription his wife had forgotten to cancel a year ago and secured a refund for the amount spent.

Another said Muse discovered an unused $200 Verizon gift card for them.

"So it just paid for itself for the next year or two," they wrote.

A Coinbase product manager, Nick Prince, posted that he saved $1,250 at a car dealership when Muse helped him dodge upsells and a large fee.

However, many of the posts answering Wang's challenge came from Meta's own staff, who were eager to share the dollar figures they say Muse saved them from snagging a cheaper phone bill, canceling insurance plans, or returning Ikea furniture.

Meta's press team did not immediately respond to a comment request sent outside regular business hours by Business Insider.

Muse might not need much help from Wang's X posts for now. It's already hit No. 1 on the downloaded apps lists for the Apple and Google Play stores in the US, beating TikTok and ChatGPT.

Meta says it has close to 3.9 billion users across its services, including WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook.

Personal assistants like Muse aim to go far beyond what other AI tools — like ChatGPT, Claude, and OpenClaw — can do for users by automatically taking over tasks in their everyday lives with much less direction.

Instinct, an invite-only AI agent that's swept through Silicon Valley, offers much of the same. Business Insider's Pranav Dixit tried the tool earlier this month and wrote that the "service is nuts," reporting that it helped him book a cabin for his birthday, order whey protein from Costco, and arrange a dentist appointment.

Still, the limits have yet to be settled. Some businesses are already pushing back on AI agents like Muse flooding their phones and marketplaces.

On Monday, for example, Amazon blocked Muse from placing orders in its shopping carts, saying that using the program to make purchases on its website violated the retailer's terms of use.

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Matthew Loh
Matthew is a senior reporter at Business Insider's Singapore bureau. He covers the defense industry, military technology, and evolving tactics in Ukraine, the US, and the Asia-Pacific region.He joined the team in June 2021, previously focusing on internet crime and labor, examining how these issues impact modern society in Asia, with a particular emphasis on China.Matthew's previous work has been featured in the South China Morning Post, as well as Singaporean news companies TODAY and The Business Times.