Zuckerberg Says AI Shopping Tool Muse Could Turn Profitable Early

Meta’s new AI assistant Muse attracted more than ten million users in the United States and Canada within about six weeks of launch, and shopping quickly became its most popular function, with average purchases topping $200. The demand was so strong that Meta had to ask payments company Stripe to raise its credit limit in the first week.

On the company’s latest earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Muse would move toward commercialization sooner than any previous Meta product. Beyond the existing paid subscription, he wants to take a cut of transactions the assistant facilitates. The push comes as Meta reported third-quarter revenue up 26% to $64.6 billion, but free cash flow fell to negative $2.12 billion from a positive $106.25 million a year earlier, as spending on AI infrastructure surged.

Chief financial officer Susan Li said the company will keep increasing investment through 2027. For now, the bet is that an assistant that shops on a user’s behalf can eventually pay for the computing power it consumes, turning a novelty into a revenue line before the infrastructure bill comes due.