{
  "id": 9223939,
  "title": "Meta Tests Human Callers for Muse After Merchants Hang Up on AI",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/22/meta-tests-human-callers-for-muse-after-merchants-hang-up-on-ai",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-22T23:12:11.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "PYMNTS",
    "slug": "pymnts",
    "url": "https://www.pymnts.com/news/artificial-intelligence/2026/meta-tests-human-callers-for-muse-after-merchants-hang-up-on-ai/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Meta, the owner of the artificial intelligence assistant Muse, conducted a test where human contractors answered some calls made by Muse to users, according to internal company posts and a Meta spokesperson, Reuters reported on Tuesday (Sept. 22). The test began after several Muse users reported that companies they were calling hung up on the AI assistant when they realized it was not a human, the report said. Meta informed its employees about the test last week, shortly after adding the phone-calling feature to Muse, but later discontinued it, the report added. Some employees raised concerns that the test could expose users' sensitive data to human contractors and undermine the security measures promoted by Meta when launching Muse, Reuters noted. Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts stated that the company conducted the test to gather feedback before releasing the feature publicly and that the employee response was \"overwhelmingly positive.\" The company informed merchants that it will only roll out the potential calling feature once it is ready and with appropriate disclosures, Roberts said. Meta launched Muse on Sept. 8, positioning it as a user-friendly personal AI assistant, according to its blog post. The assistant runs on Meta's own dedicated cloud computer, with a Sentinel agent ensuring that Muse's actions stay within the company's security protocols. Muse quickly rose to the No. 1 spot on Apple’s App Store just 10 days after its launch, according to a Sept. 18 report. Meta has also been expanding Muse's capabilities by adding payment methods. At launch, Muse used Link developed by Stripe, and on Sept. 21, Meta announced a partnership with Shopify to enable Muse to shop and complete purchases with Shop Pay on Shopify stores. The company's latest partnership, announced on Tuesday, is with PayPal, which will allow Muse to shop and checkout with PayPal merchants for PayPal customers.",
  "summary": "Meta tested having human contractors handle some calls for the phone-calling feature of its personal artificial intelligence assistant Muse, Reuters reported Tuesday (Sept. 22), citing internal company posts and a Meta spokesperson. Meta began this test after some users of Muse reported that companies that were called by Muse often hung up when they realized […] The post Meta Tests Human Callers…",
  "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."
}