Andrej Sokolow/picture alliance via Getty Images
- Meta teased a new AI device called Charm at its Connect event on Wednesday.
- The small device packs in Meta's new AI agent, Muse, and has a screen.
- It's a shot across the bow to OpenAI, which has its own high-profile AI device effort.
Meta could be beating OpenAI to the punch on the hardware front.
The social media giant announced that it has put its viral new AI agent, Muse, into a small device you can speak to.
The gizmo is called "Charm," and only a few have been made so far, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Wednesday at the company's Connect event. He said it should be ready to ship in time for the holiday shopping season.
"We've packed a lot of technology into this little guy," Zuckerberg said onstage. "If you're not wearing glasses, this is going to be by far the best way to talk to your Muse and show it what's going on around you."
It signals that Meta is becoming a serious competitor in the race to build an AI device that goes beyond smartphones. It's also a shot across the bow at OpenAI, which has created a lot of buzz around its own efforts to build an AI device.
Last year, OpenAI bought legendary Apple designer Jony Ive's startup to work on a physical device. So far, little is publicly known about that device.
Zuckerberg only teased Charm at the very end of the conference. Charm has a screen, which showcases "Jolly," the mascot of Muse, which Meta launched earlier this month.
While the overwhelming majority of Meta's revenue comes from its ads business, it's making a big bet on hardware. Getting people to use Meta products through its own devices would unlock major advantages for the tech giant.
Charm was born out of Meta's new design lab, led by former Apple interface design chief Alan Dye, Bloomberg reported. Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.
Meta has been expanding its hardware efforts elsewhere.
Earlier this year, Meta tapped Rui Xu, a veteran with years of experience at China's top tech companies, to lead a hardware effort inside its superintelligence division, Business Insider previously reported.
OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
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