September 24, 2026
AI agents return to the public: Muse has 642,000 daily users in the US
In its first 12 days, Muse reached 2.8 million installs worldwide, and by Sep 21 it had an estimated 642,000 daily users in the US, according to Apptopia. Meta gave the agent a dedicated VM with a browser for email and travel bookings. Most tasks are free, with subscriptions for heavy use.
In 2023, AutoGPT gained 100,000 stars in months, but few finished products emerged. Meta has now launched Muse on iOS, Android, and muse.ai, and the agent handles tasks in a persistent virtual machine with a browser.
The terms are changing. An AI agent plans its own steps, calls tools, and carries a task through to a result. In our count, 30 of 51 tools already describe themselves as agent or agentic. DeepSeek, xAI, and Earendil use the word harness.
The Verge found Muse and OpenClaw using the same core file names: SOUL.md, memory, and tools. Nat Friedman said Meta built Muse from scratch but drew product inspiration from OpenClaw.
Instinct is growing alongside it. The company raised $250 million in a Series B, $350 million in total, at a $2.5 billion valuation. The agent is led by Noah Shinn of Spear Street Technology: users connect apps and devices, then interact with it through messages and calls.
OpenClaw can already be launched with `npx openclaw@latest`. You need Node.js 24.16+ or 26.1+, a Claude Code or Codex CLI login, or an API key. After setup, use `openclaw gateway install` for the background Gateway.
As of Aug 26, Instinct remained in private beta.
