Meta launched Muse for Small Business on Tuesday, an agentic AI assistant aimed at small business owners — from creating ad campaigns and analyzing financial performance to sorting and answering incoming mail. Meta is pitching it as an AI co-worker for owners who'd rather be on the shop floor than in the office, with early testers like a grocery owner and a clothing-brand founder quoted in the announcement.

The agentic model can work in the background while users do other things and take action on their behalf — but Meta stressed it will not take action without the user's permission. Business owners are prompted to name their Muse on sign-up, and 35 business owners were invited to Meta's Los Angeles campus in early September to test and refine the product.

This extends the Meta One push — AI features across Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp — into a dedicated SMB product. With OpenAI launching its always-on 'dots' agents the same day, the two are racing head-on for the personal-agent slot on consumers' phones and PCs.