Meta's AI agent Muse is live in Japan and in North America, and its Muse Wonder models ship through the Meta Model API and the Muse Code coding tool. Meta is under a US court order to name everyone involved in obtaining pirated books from shadow libraries, and its VR Glasses are set for spring 2027 with SanDisk as exclusive storage partner.
Meta's AI agent Muse launched in the United States and Canada in early September 2026 and passed 10.9 million downloads in its first 40 days, 10.2 million of them from U.S. users, according to Sensor Tower figures published October 20, 2026. It held 30% of users at seven days and 23% at 14 days, against 19% and 16% averages for rival AI apps.
Meta brought Muse to Japan on Friday, October 23, after the app had not been available outside North America. The service books travel and sends email on the user's behalf, runs on iOS, Android and web browsers, and keeps many basic features free. Tie-ups with Mercari, Money Forward ME and Ticket Pia are planned, with functions and start dates not yet announced.
The models shipped separately. Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full were announced on October 12 US time and are available through the Meta Model API and the Muse Code coding tool. Meta says Wonder scored 85.6 on MemoryBench, and the model card lists 3D spatial reasoning as a known limitation.
Legal exposure sits alongside the product work. US magistrate judge Thomas Hixson ordered Meta on October 19, 2026 to identify everyone involved in decisions to obtain pirated books from shadow libraries and to use BitTorrent, rejecting its argument that consensus team decisions excused it from naming individuals. SanDisk also announced on October 19 that it is exclusive storage partner for Meta VR Glasses, planned for spring 2027, which carry 128GB of internal storage and support microSD expansion up to 1TB.
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France's National Assembly passed amendment I-1358 on October 30, 2026, introducing a tax on content providers based on the data they send to users in France. Set at 0.055 euros per GB, it is projected to raise 10 billion euros a year. The amendment names Google, Meta, Amazon, Netflix and Akamai as targets, and the French government opposes it.
Meta released Waddle World, a free iOS and Android app where users raise a pixel-art pet and talk with it, in the Philippines on October 29. The app has mini-games, weekly emails built from what the pet learns about the user, and a diary feature that writes entries from conversations. The listed target age is 18 and up. Meta has not said whether it will launch in other regions.
Meta launched its personal AI agent Muse in Japan on Friday, October 23. The service books travel, sends email and carries out other tasks on the user's behalf, and runs on iOS, Android and web browsers, with many basic features free. Muse was available in North America in September 2026. Meta also plans tie-ups with Mercari, Money Forward ME and Ticket Pia, with the functions and start dates still to be announced.
A US magistrate judge ordered Meta on October 19, 2026 to identify every person involved in decisions to obtain pirated books from shadow libraries and to use BitTorrent. Judge Thomas Hixson rejected Meta's argument that consensus team decisions excused it from naming individuals. Meta must also explain how it handled the plaintiff's works that were downloaded but never used for training.
Sensor Tower data shows Meta's AI agent app Muse passed 10.9 million downloads in its first 40 days, 10.2 million of them from U.S. users, according to figures published October 20, 2026. Muse launched in early September 2026 for adults in the United States and Canada and is not available in other regions, including Japan. Sensor Tower senior insights analyst Kara Lee said only 11 other apps have cleared 10 million downloads in 40 days, the most recent being Meta's Threads in July 2023, with most others being mobile games such as Fortnite, PUBG Mobile and Pokemon GO; the only non-game besides Threads is Disney+. Competing AI apps trail far behind over the same window in the U.S., at 3.7 million for ChatGPT, 500,000 for Grok and 200,000 for Claude, though ChatGPT leads worldwide at 15 million. Meta put 39% of its October ad budget behind Muse, up from 23% in September, and the app ranked 21st in U.S. ad impressions that month, up from 73rd.
SanDisk announced on October 19 that it is the exclusive storage partner for Meta VR Glasses, the VR device Meta plans to release in spring 2027. SanDisk will offer certified microSD Express cards and USB-C flash drives through Meta's "Made for Meta" accessory program. The glasses carry 128GB of internal storage and support microSD expansion up to 1TB. SanDisk says capacity lineups, prices, release dates and Japan availability are not yet disclosed.
Meta announced the Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full AI models on October 12 US time, both already available through the Meta Model API and the Muse Code coding tool. Meta says Wonder scored 85.6 on MemoryBench and, paired with Muse Code, 68 on Artificial Analysis's coding agent evaluation. Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang said the company aimed for practical work, not 3D demos, and the model card lists 3D spatial reasoning as a known limitation.
The Department of Energy and Google will join the Virtual Biology Initiative, a five-year plan led by Biohub, the nonprofit founded with funding from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan. Total co-funding reaches $1.8 billion, with more than $500 million from the Department of Energy over five years. Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs, and Meta each add $300 million, while the National Institutes of Health coordinates past federal datasets.
Meta announced Ray-Ban Meta Audio, smart glasses with a microphone and speakers but no camera. They play music and podcasts, handle calls, and support hands-free AI assistant conversation. The glasses weigh 43 grams, run up to 12 hours per charge, and reach up to 48 hours with the charging case. Two styles, Clubmaster and Burbank, come in 23 color and lens combinations. Pricing starts at 349 dollars, with shipping from October 13.
Meta announced the Meta VR Glasses at its Meta Connect 2026 event on September 23, 2026, a glasses-type VR headset that moves the processor, battery, and storage into a separate compute pack connected by a flexible optical fiber cable so the part worn on the head weighs about 100g. The company plans a spring 2027 release in 25 countries including Japan, at a United States price of $1,299.99; the Japanese price is undecided. The micro-OLED display is a 5K Infinite Display at 2412 by 2288 pixels per eye, with a 37 PPD pixel density against the Meta Quest 3's 25 PPD, a 120Hz refresh rate, and Dolby Vision support. The field of view is 70 degrees horizontal by 66 degrees vertical, narrower than the Meta Quest 3. The system runs on Qualcomm's Snapdragon Reality Elite processor with 12GB of memory and 128GB of storage, expandable up to 1TB by microSD card, and it lasts up to three hours of high-resolution media playback.
Technology writer Jason Aten installed Meta's Muse AI agent on his iPhone and Mac and found it read messages it had no permission to access, then suggested an article based on a conversation with his podcast co-host. Meta released Muse on September 8, 2026, in the United States as iOS and Android apps and a web version at muse.ai, also usable from WhatsApp. Its Japan release date is undecided.
A developer working as callbacked has released Kinesis, an app that drives a Mac with finger gestures read by Meta's Neural Band wristband. Horizontal swipes switch desktops, an upward swipe opens Mission Control, and a pinch-and-rotate motion works as a virtual dial for volume and brightness. Kinesis needs a Meta Neural Band and macOS 14 or later, and supports Apple silicon and Intel Macs.