I was in the area whenever Zuckerberg shared his AI triumph lap alongside a thicc Muse mascot

Mark Zuckerberg swaggers onstage to thunderous applause and a sea of raised phones. He is wearing a T-shirt that says "BUILDING IS MY LOVE LANGUAGE."

Meta has certainly been building, and in the auditorium at the company's Menlo Park headquarters, Zuckerberg is taking a triumph lap.

The company's personal AI agent, Muse, has proven a hit since its September 8 launch.

And at Meta Connect, the company's annual event anywhere Zuckerberg unveils its latest gadgets and technology, Muse is the celebrity of the show.

I couldn't stroll 10 steps throughout Meta's sprawling evidence without operating into lifesized versions of Jolly, Muse's thicc (officially), pudgy mascot that slightly resembles a sloth. A collection of group sat in the row rearward me couldn't halt talking concerning how cute Jolly is.

Meanwhile, Zuck prowls the phase akin he owns it (which, to be fair, he does). The sweaty nerd who wilted in his hoodie under Walt Mossberg's glare in 2010 is lengthy gone.

And for the next hour, the CEO and his wingmen, CTO Andrew Bosworth and chief AI authoritative Alexandr Wang, province a lot of new products and features, including a new camera-free brace of its astute glasses, and Muse preparedness for Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

Nearly everything turns out to be yet another way to conversation to Muse, which can execute tasks for you akin booking a escape or ordering shopping. That includes a astonishment disclose — a small Muse Tamagotchi-style device you can transport on a keychain, shipping fair in period for the holidays.

"I think this could be a generational chance to commencement construction for a new phase as it takes off," says Wang of Muse. He's appearing at his archetypal Meta keynote, sporting a mullet, a Camo T-shirt, and Crocs. Walmart, he declares to a circular of applause, volition nexus to Muse. So volition Best Buy, and Dick's, and a dozen another retailers.

Muse, says Wang in his trademark irreverent style, is "scientifically speaking, a banger." Then he announces that it can now obtain complete your Mac. A solitary individual in the spectators yells "woo!" and Wang flashes a relieved thumbs-up.

Zuckerberg afterward demos his own Muse agent, a toga-wearing, additional on brand avatar named Agrippa, named following the Roman general. He asks Agrippa to inspect his calendar to see whether Meta's CNC machines and 3D printers are accessible for him. "For you, I'm certain they'll be open," Agrippa tells him from the stage's ample screen.

'Stay optimistic out there'

The biggest cheer in the area comes whenever Zuckerberg attempts a Steve Jobs-style "one additional thing" instant and shows off a new brace of $1,300 VR glasses that appearance nearly indistinguishable from regular sunglasses.

When Zuck announces that they measure lone a hundred grams, there are gasps about the room. A few group sitting near me jump up for a position ovation, afterward sheepishly sit downward following realizing nobody's joining them.

For years, Connect was infused alongside the strained optimism of Zuckerberg asking us to accept in a sequence of big bets that didn't continually equivalent the hype: the metaverse, its flagship AI example Llama, and legless avatars.

After Llama unsuccessful to acquire traction, the business spent billions of dollars going rear to the example board and hired Wang from Scale AI.

This year, it felt akin Meta wasn't asking. Onstage, Zuck, Boz, and Wang have the energy of men who cognize that their bet on individual AI assistants — first made in 2025 — is starting to pay off.

As Zuckerberg wraps up the keynote, he waves goodbye and tells the assemblage to "stay optimistic out there."

Agent cocktails and smoked grills

Outside the auditorium, the elephantine double-decker buses that normally ferry Meta workforce from their homes to their offices are waiting, prepared to obtain us to Hacker Square, the plaza at the bosom of Meta's campus, for an after-party.

The journey takes additional than 25 minutes, but there's booze for the road, a concoction of blue spirulina syrup, citrus juice, and vodka, served in blue synthetic bags. They appearance akin IV bags used in hospitals, and quarry promptly leaks all complete my jeans.

At the party, chefs in pale coats activity smoking grills exterior a barn-red shack called Lightning Bolt's Smoke House. There are blue-corn mushroom tacos, truffle mushroom ravioli, kurobuta sausages, vegetarian hot dogs made from king oyster mushrooms, and endless trays of chocolate lotion puffs, all tagged on small cards displaying the Meta logo.

Meta's portion cost is up concerning 25% since the initiate of Muse. But it's motionless first days for the AI agent, and Meta's video-recording glasses continue to face privacy criticisms.

However, chatting to another attendees during sipping a vodka and coffee liqueur cocktail aptly called "The Agent," the vibes matched the optimism that Zuckerberg had asked for.

"I'm really blessed to see excitement about VR again," Steve Lukas, the originator and CEO of a mixed-reality equivalent studio called ContractXR, tells me.

"It felt akin it was contact and go for a minute."