Meta Building Autonomous AI Assistant for 3 Billion Users

Meta's Bold Move into Agentic AI

Meta Platforms is developing a highly personalised artificial intelligence assistant designed to autonomously carry out everyday tasks for its more than 3 billion users, according to a Financial Times report. The project represents a significant push by the social media giant into agentic AI, systems capable of acting on behalf of users with minimal human intervention.

The assistant is being built using Meta's new Muse Spark AI model and is currently undergoing internal testing by a select group of employees. The goal is to create a product comparable to OpenClaw, an OpenAI-owned tool that can connect various hardware and software systems and learn from the data it produces with far less human intervention than a traditional chatbot.

Beyond a Simple Chatbot

Rather than simply answering questions, the assistant is intended to handle tasks across Meta's suite of apps, marking a step beyond the company's existing AI chatbot features. In parallel, Meta is reportedly building an additional AI agent called 'Hatch' alongside an agentic shopping tool integrated within Instagram, suggesting a broad strategy to embed autonomous AI throughout its ecosystem.

Mounting Investor Scrutiny Over AI Spending

The development comes as Meta faces intensifying questions from investors about the cost of its AI ambitions. During its first-quarter 2026 earnings report, the company raised its full-year capital expenditure guidance to between $125 billion and $145 billion, up from a prior range of $115 billion to $135 billion. The revision reflects higher component prices and additional data centre costs.

The midpoint of the new guidance, $135 billion, would represent nearly double Meta's 2025 spending of $72.2 billion. Shares fell more than 6% in after-hours trading following the announcement, even as the company reported first-quarter revenue growth of 33% to $56 billion.

Zuckerberg Defends the Spend

CEO Mark Zuckerberg defended the spending on the earnings call, framing AI investments as essential for future growth and for reinforcing Meta's core advertising business. CFO Susan Li told analysts that Meta must invest to satisfy infrastructure requirements and maximise strategic flexibility. Meta is also reportedly looking to raise between $20 billion and $25 billion through an investment-grade bond sale to help finance its AI infrastructure buildout.

The race for autonomous AI assistants is heating up, with Google reportedly testing a similar internal agent codenamed 'Remy' to rival OpenAI's offerings.