ByteDance Plans to Take on Meta's Muse, Eyes Rival AI Agent Launch In Coming Weeks: Report

ByteDance Ltd. reportedly plans the release of an AI assistant on the lines of Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ:META) in the coming weeks to advance its lead in the AI race with the U.S. counterparts.

Co-founder Zhang Yiming briefed researchers, engineers, as well as supporting staff about the plan in a recent all-hands meeting, chalking out key priorities, Bloomberg News reported on Wednesday.

He eyes to compete with top tech firms like Anthropic and OpenAI, but cautioned that the completion would happen by 2029 or 2030.

ByteDance did not immediately respond to Benzinga’s request for comments.

Zuckerberg Optimistic Over Muse’s Early Momentum

Meta launched Muse AI App in September. By mid-October, the app surpassed 10.4 million downloads, with the U.S. downloads outpacing those of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Sora, partly benefiting from Meta’s massive user base across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp.

During the company’s third-quarter earnings call, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Meta’s family of apps now reaches 3.64 billion daily users. He highlighted Muse’s early momentum and stated, “we are entering a new phase and a more operational phase that is focused on scaling.” However, Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management warned that Muse is already burning cash at an alarming rate.

Earlier this week, reports indicated that the company is planning to launch its Muse AI assistant to British users and build a sales team to sell its AI products to businesses. 

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