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Sure, Meta’s AI Muse works, but it sure creeps me out

Hands-on review finds Meta's Muse AI agent completes shopping and email tasks but surfaces personal Instagram API data beyond user-visible ad-topic settings.

Meta launched Muse, its first agentic AI productivity assistant, which performs tasks like shopping, email management, trip planning, media generation, and creating webpages or documents via a cloud-based virtual computer. The Verge's hands-on found it successfully deleted thousands of promotional emails and completed an Amazon purchase, but it also revealed detailed personal interests inferred from Instagram and Facebook account API data that is not visible in the apps' ad-topic settings. Meta says Muse only exchanges data needed for third-party integrations and does not share information with advertisers; the reviewer frames privacy unease as the main adoption hurdle.

The Verge · AIupdated · 4d agofirst · 6d agoAI industry 10 sources

Meta debuts its Muse AI agent. Will consumers trust it?

Meta launched Muse, a consumer AI agent powered by Muse Spark that connects to users' apps to execute tasks like emailing, booking travel, and payments.

Meta introduced Muse, a personal AI agent for US users that connects to email, calendars, payments, shopping, and other services to execute tasks such as booking travel, lowering bills, and completing purchases via Link by Stripe. The agent runs in a dedicated Muse Secure VM with a separate Sentinel agent kept apart at the system level, and Meta claims it cannot see passwords or payment data and does not share conversations with ad systems. Muse is free to start, with Power ($20/month) and Maximum ($100/month) subscription tiers, and is available on the web, iOS, Android, and WhatsApp, with Meta AI glasses support planned. The launch follows Meta's $18 billion multistate consumer-harms settlement and comes as rivals like Gemini Spark and Claude Cowork push agentic AI.

TechCrunch · AI · 8d agoAI industry 3 sources1

Instacart launches an AI grocery shopping assistant called Clementine

Instacart launches Clementine, a conversational AI grocery assistant that turns chats, lists, or recipes into purchasable carts in the US and Canada.

Instacart launched Clementine, an AI assistant that converts conversations, grocery lists, photos of handwritten lists, or recipes into ready-to-buy carts, now available in the US and Canada. It generates personalized recipes, tailors recommendations to dietary needs such as gluten-free and vegetarian, and surfaces deals and lower-cost alternatives. Uber Eats and DoorDash have launched similar AI assistants as delivery apps compete to become households' default meal-planning tools.

TechCrunch · AI · 7d agoAI industry

Testing ads in ChatGPT

OpenAI begins testing ads in ChatGPT, promising clear labeling, answer independence, privacy protections, and user control.

OpenAI is starting to test advertisements in ChatGPT to support free access to the chatbot. The company states ads will carry clear labeling, remain independent of answers, include strong privacy protections, and offer user control options.

OpenAI News · Aug 11, 2026AI industry

Reimagining advertising with AI

OpenAI launches ChatGPT advertising features including Sponsored Agents, AI ad creation in Ads Manager, and integrations with HubSpot and Shopify.

OpenAI is testing Sponsored Agents in the United States, letting users converse with clearly labeled business-sponsored agents after clicking ads in ChatGPT. Advertisers can create, update, and analyze campaigns via natural-language prompts in ChatGPT with an Ads Manager plugin, plus AI-suggested copy and imagery in Ads Manager. HubSpot becomes the first CRM partner and Shopify the first ecommerce partner, with the Shopify app expanding internationally on September 23.

OpenAI News · 8h agoAI industry

Introducing ChatGPT for Teens: Built for learning, backed by protections

OpenAI launched ChatGPT for Teens, a teen-focused version with built-in protections, healthy-use features, and expanded parental controls.

OpenAI introduced ChatGPT for Teens, a version of its assistant positioned for learning and critical thinking with stronger built-in protections. The offering includes healthy-use features and additional controls for parents. It is a consumer product launch aimed at safer teen usage rather than a model or research release.

OpenAI News · 29d agoAI industry

ChatGPT can now connect to your personal apps to mimic writing style

OpenAI is testing ChatGPT Writing Style, which mimics a user's voice using writing samples from connected Gmail, Slack, and Drive accounts.

OpenAI confirmed it is testing a Writing Style feature for ChatGPT that learns a user's voice from writing samples in connected apps. The onboarding flow references Messaging (Slack), Documents (Google Drive and Notion), and Email (Gmail) as example sources. It resembles Anthropic's Styles personalization feature but draws on existing writing inside connected services rather than uploaded samples. The feature is available to a small group of users with no announced general rollout date.

BleepingComputer · 9d agoAI industry

Free ChatGPT users get ads picked from whatever they just asked about

OpenAI will serve ads to ChatGPT Free and Go users based on conversation topics, location and device, with personalized targeting behind opt-in.

OpenAI will begin showing ads in ChatGPT for Free and Go plan users, selected from the current conversation topic plus general location and device type. Personalized ad targeting using in-product activity and conversation context will only start after an explicit opt-in, with a setting to manage the choice afterward. Plus, Pro, Enterprise, Business and Education subscribers remain ad-free, and OpenAI states that chats, chat history, memories and personal details are not shared with advertisers. A privacy policy update will document the ad labels, controls and performance reporting.

Help Net Security · 16d agoAI industry

Supporting Thailand’s next generation of AI startups

OpenAI and Thailand's MHESI launched an eight-week accelerator for ten health, wellness, and education AI startups.

OpenAI announced a program with Thailand's Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (MHESI) to support the country's next generation of AI startups. The eight-week accelerator will help ten startups in health, wellness, and education turn AI prototypes into trusted products.

OpenAI News · 19d agoAI industry

Shipt becomes the latest delivery app with an AI shopping assistant

Target-owned delivery platform Shipt launched Ask Shipt, an AI shopping assistant that turns prompts and dish photos into ready-to-buy carts.

Shipt, the same-day delivery platform owned by Target, announced Ask Shipt, an AI assistant that converts text prompts, budget constraints, and uploaded dish photos into customized shopping carts. It follows similar 2026 launches from Instacart (Clementine), Uber Eats, and DoorDash. Target.com has separately added AI features such as photo search and review summaries. The tool is available now in the Shipt app and on Shipt.com.

TechCrunch · AI · 7d agoAI industry

Learning never stops: How AI makes learning continuous

OpenAI report describes how students and educators use ChatGPT to extend learning continuously beyond the classroom.

OpenAI published a report examining how students and educators use ChatGPT to make learning more continuous. The report describes support that extends beyond the classroom, positioning ChatGPT as an ongoing learning companion. The release is part of OpenAI's education-focused communications rather than a technical or safety research paper.

OpenAI News · 21d agoAI industry

Former TikTok execs built an app that uses AI to teach you how to pose for a photo

Ex-TikTok employees launched Superpose, an iOS camera app using generative AI to suggest photo poses, with $2.2M raised.

Former TikTok employees Melody Chu and Jing Liu launched Superpose, an iOS camera app that generates four AI pose suggestions per photo, with over 22,000 downloads and 190,000 poses generated since July. The app offers five free generations daily, with paid packs of five for $2.99 or 20 for $9.99. The startup raised $2.2 million from Khosla Ventures, Meitu, and OVTR VC, competing with Google's Camera Coach and Adobe's AI photo critique features.

TechCrunch · AI · 1d agoAI industry

Stampli cuts launch hours by 68% using ChatGPT Work

AP automation firm Stampli used OpenAI Codex and ChatGPT Work to cut product launch production hours by 68%.

Stampli, an accounts-payable automation company, compressed weeks of launch production into days using Codex and ChatGPT Work. Facing a fixed deadline with design resources committed elsewhere, the team reported a 68% reduction in launch hours. The piece is an OpenAI customer adoption case study.

OpenAI News · 27d agoAI industry

Introducing ChatGPT Images 2.5

OpenAI released ChatGPT Images 2.5, improving generation of personalized, polished images from ideas, sketches, and reference photos.

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Images 2.5, a new version of its image generation capability in ChatGPT. The update is designed to turn ideas, sketches, and reference photos into more personalized and polished images that better reflect user intent. No benchmark numbers, model sizes, or technical architecture details were disclosed in the announcement.

OpenAI News · 8d agoModel release

Quoting Calif Research

Calif Research demos WeWorm, an AI-built zero-click worm that spreads via WeChat calls on iOS and Android without user interaction.

Calif Research released a demo of WeWorm, described as the first zero-click worm to spread through WeChat calls across iOS and Android; victims need not answer the call and hear nothing even if they do. The team used AI to find the underlying bug and write a remote code execution exploit in about two days, then spent one more week building the worm. The researchers argue AI can now do most of the exploit-development work, with humans supplying judgment on targeting and safe testing.

Simon Willison · 6d agoAI safety & security

ChatGPT Sketch turns your bad drawings into detailed AI images

OpenAI launched ChatGPT Images 2.5 with a Sketch feature that turns user doodles into images, plus 50% lower latency.

OpenAI released ChatGPT Images 2.5 and a new Sketch feature, activated by typing @Sketch, that lets users draw doodles inside ChatGPT and use them as image generation prompts. The update claims more natural lighting, richer textures, better multi-turn instruction following, and up to 50% latency reduction versus Images 2.0. Users can also leave inline comments on parts of an image to request specific edits. It is available for ChatGPT, ChatGPT Work, and Codex users on desktop, mobile, and web.

The Verge · AI · 8d agoAI industry

A milestone in expanding access to AI

OpenAI announced ChatGPT Ads reached a $1 billion annualized revenue run rate and expanded availability globally to fund free and affordable AI access.

OpenAI stated that ChatGPT Ads, its advertising product, has reached $1 billion in annualized revenue run rate. The company framed this as a milestone that expands global availability of the ads product and supports broader access to AI through free and lower-cost options. No technical, model, or security details were included in the announcement.

OpenAI News · 16d agoAI industry

Inside ‘Project Lily’: The Humans Reading Your ChatGPT Chats

404 Media reveals OpenAI's 'Project Lily' has hundreds of contractors reading real ChatGPT user prompts, exposing sensitive personal data despite privacy filters.

404 Media reports that OpenAI employs hundreds of contractors who read real ChatGPT user prompts, including whole conversations, to rate and critique the chatbot's responses across a user base of over 900 million. Prompts are anonymized and run through OpenAI's Privacy Filter model, but the company acknowledged sensitive personal details can still reach reviewers, and 'user memories summaries' may reveal a user's location and personal context. The review work includes training ChatGPT to be less sycophantic and to stop anthropomorphizing itself, following lawsuits linking the sycophantic 4o model to multiple suicides. Anthropic confirmed it also uses human review to improve its models, and OpenAI's 'improve the model for everyone' data-sharing setting is on by default for free, Plus, and Pro users.

404 Media · 2d agoAI safety & security

AWS Introduces Pizza Bot: An Open Source Inbox for Background AI Agents

AWS open-sourced Pizza Bot, a self-hosted inbox app for background AI agents with approval gating and multi-provider model support.

AWS released Pizza Bot under Apache 2.0 after earlier versions served over 2,000 Amazon employees for meeting prep, email drafting, and research. The app provides macOS, Windows, and Linux desktop builds plus browser and terminal clients talking to a Hono API server, with LangGraph/DeepAgents checkpoints preserving thread state and approval pauses. It supports Amazon Bedrock, Anthropic, Google Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, and Ollama, exposes external tools via MCP servers, and lets skill authors gate actions behind approve/edit/reject flows.

MarkTechPost · 3d agoAI tools & infra

Podcast: Humans Are Reading Your ChatGPT Conversations

404 Media podcast examines contractors who read real ChatGPT user conversations, plus Automattic CEO turmoil and a16z's enshittification essay.

404 Media's weekly podcast leads with an investigation into 'Project Lily,' the human contractors who review real ChatGPT users' prompts and conversations; the reporter reviewed internal documents about the program. It also covers leadership upheaval at Automattic, where CEO Matt Mullenweg was put on leave of absence and then claimed he was back in control. A subscriber-only segment discusses a16z's argument that enshittification is not real.

404 Media · 7h agoAI safety & security

Meta Introduces Muse, a Personal AI Agent That Runs on Its Own Dedicated Secure Cloud Computer

Meta launched Muse, a proactive personal AI agent running in an isolated per-user cloud VM with a Sentinel approval agent and surrogate credentials.

Meta introduced Muse, a consumer agent that performs long-horizon tasks like email, travel booking, and bill negotiation, rolling out in the US on iOS, Android, muse.ai, and WhatsApp with free and paid tiers. Each user gets a dedicated Muse Secure VM where the agent runs in a systemd-nspawn cell, while a separate Sentinel agent approves every network request at layer 4/7 and injects real credentials only at the network boundary. The underlying Muse Spark 1.3 model, which Meta says cuts tool calls by ~20% and tokens by ~25% versus 1.2 and is near state-of-the-art on prompt-injection resistance, is available via Meta Model API, with open weights on the roadmap.

MarkTechPost · 7d agoAI industry

ChatGPT Ads expands across Europe

OpenAI is expanding ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets, letting advertisers reach users as they explore, compare, and decide.

OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Ads is expanding to 31 European markets. The move extends OpenAI's advertising monetization, allowing advertisers to reach users during exploration, comparison of options, and purchase decisions. The announcement has no direct security relevance and carries no risk beyond competitive AI industry impact.

OpenAI News · 28d agoAI industry

Meta Launches Personal AI Agent, Muse, Emphasizes Safety and Privacy

Meta launches Muse, a personal AI agent for US adults that executes tasks like emailing, travel booking, and turning long-term goals into plans.

Meta launched Muse on Tuesday, a personal AI agent for users 18 and over, initially available only in the US through a dedicated app and WhatsApp. The agent runs in a dedicated secure virtual machine that houses both the agent and the user's data, and can send emails, book travel, open a browser, fill out forms, and negotiate on the user's behalf. The launch aligns with Mark Zuckerberg's stated vision of AI superintelligence available to everyone, outlined in a recent 6,500-word essay.

SecurityWeek · 7d agoAI industry1

How Zapier transformed core marketing processes with ChatGPT Work

Zapier's enterprise marketing team uses ChatGPT Work to cut lead-funnel drop-offs and automate reporting.

OpenAI published a customer story on how Zapier's enterprise marketing team adopted ChatGPT Work. Use cases include reducing lead funnel drop-offs, building campaign assets, and automating reporting. This is marketing case-study content rather than a product or research announcement.

OpenAI News · Aug 10, 2026AI industry

BengalSEO Poisons Bing Search Results to Deliver MayaBot and Tech Support Scams

DFIR Report exposes BengalSEO, an India-based SEO-poisoning operation running since 2015, delivering MayaBot malware and tech support scams via Bing results.

The DFIR Report details BengalSEO, a financially motivated cluster operating from Rajasthan, India, since at least 2015, run through two IT service providers: WeConnect Solutions LLC and Garage2Global. The group uses black-hat SEO techniques—backlinks, DOM injection, DOM shuffling, keyword stuffing—to push lure pages to the top of Microsoft Bing results, routing victims through a traffic distribution system to either the custom MayaBot malware (which delivers an XMRig cryptominer and enables C2) or tech support scam call centers. A Vizio decoy page had 2,000 backlinks from 167 unique external domains, and Matomo analytics is used for victim fingerprinting, with the tracking domain appearing in 1,112 urlscan.io results.

The Hacker News · 8d agoThreat actor in the wild

Amazon launches Alexa+ in India with Hindi support

Amazon launched its generative AI Alexa+ assistant in India with Hindi support in Early Access, free for Prime customers after testing.

Amazon announced that Alexa+, its generative AI-powered conversational assistant, is now available in India in Early Access with Hindi and English support, including mid-sentence language switching and long-form context retention. The assistant handles multi-step tasks such as ordering groceries via Amazon Now and controlling smart home devices, with integrations including Swiggy, District, MakeMyTrip, EazyDiner, Amazon Music, and JioSaavn. It will be free for Prime members after the testing period and cost about $20.85 per month for non-Prime customers. Amazon is targeting India's 600 million-plus Hindi speakers, and says smart device adoption grew 20% year over year.

TechCrunch · AI · 10h agoAI industry

Meta now lets AI agents handle the boring parts of WhatsApp Business setup

Meta launched a WhatsApp Business Tools MCP server that lets AI agents like Claude or Cursor set up and manage WhatsApp Business messaging accounts.

Meta announced a WhatsApp Business Tools MCP server, a Model Context Protocol server that connects AI coding agents such as Claude, Cursor, Codex, or ChatGPT directly to the WhatsApp Business Platform. The agents can handle account creation, phone number verification, Cloud API registration, Terms of Service checks, messaging template creation/editing, and webhook testing. Meta's companion Social Technologies MCP can also discover API endpoints, search documentation, and troubleshoot errors. The launch extends Meta's existing MCP servers for ad management and app configuration monitoring.

TechCrunch · AI · 1d agoAI tools & infra

Meta Releases Muse, a Personal AI Agent With Privacy ‘Built Into It’

Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent on iOS, Android, WhatsApp, and web, with VM-isolated execution and prompt-injection protections.

Meta released Muse, a personal AI agent from Meta Superintelligence Labs that automates tasks such as sending email, booking travel, and making purchases, accessible via a dedicated app, Muse.ai, and WhatsApp. The agent runs in a Secure VM architecture that isolates untrusted web and integration data from the action-taking component, with a Sentinel system that routes human-in-the-loop approval prompts directly to users to resist prompt injection. Purchases use Stripe's Link single-use card numbers with no-fee return protections, and a future Confidential VM co-developed with Moxie Marlinspike will run in trusted execution environments with user-held keys. Meta added Muse to its public bug bounty with payouts up to $300,000, including up to $130,000 for single-user prompt injection findings.

WIRED · Security · 8d agoAI industry