{
  "id": 8031384,
  "title": "Rival AI agents, Instinct and Meta’s Muse, both add the ability to make calls",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/rival-ai-agents-instinct-and-metas-muse-both-add-the-ability-to-make",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-17T13:46:16.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "TechCrunch",
    "slug": "techcrunch",
    "url": "https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/17/rival-ai-agents-instinct-and-metas-muse-both-add-the-ability-to-make-calls/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the competitive landscape of text-based AI assistants, two major players, Instinct and Meta’s Muse, have recently added a new calling feature to their offerings. Instinct, a San Francisco-based startup with a reported $10 billion valuation, has introduced its Instinct Concierge feature. This new tool enables the AI agent to place calls and act as a concierge, handling tasks such as booking restaurants that do not accept online reservations, managing dentist appointments, and resolving issues with cable bills. Noah Shinn, Instinct's founder, announced this feature on the social media platform X, stating that it is currently available in early access to some users, with plans to roll it out to all users soon. On the other hand, Meta’s Muse, another strong contender in the market, has also added the ability to place calls to U.S. businesses. The tech giant revealed that this feature will first be introduced to users who ask Muse to make a call, effectively turning it into a feature request mechanism. As other rivals have been emphasizing their calling capabilities as an advantage over Instinct, the introduction of the Instinct Concierge feature brings all competing AI assistants on an equal footing in this area. Additionally, Instinct has recently expanded its features to include email addresses for account sign-up and management, while also enabling users' assistants to contact other users' assistants by adding them to a trusted network. Both Instinct and Muse have witnessed significant growth in recent weeks, with Instinct raising $350 million at a $2.5 billion valuation, and Muse outperforming Meta AI app within the first few days of its launch, garnering over 730,000 downloads in the U.S.",
  "summary": "People can use these assistants to make restaurant reservations and cancel subscriptions",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}