Meta used its annual Connect conference to outline a strategy in which personal AI agents become increasingly integrated with wearable hardware. The company is bringing its recently launched Muse agent to its AI glasses, while also introducing new Ray-Ban models, lightweight VR glasses and a dedicated device for interacting with Muse.
At Meta Connect 2026, CEO Mark Zuckerberg presented artificial intelligence as an increasingly persistent layer across the company’s hardware. Rather than requiring users to open an application and enter a prompt, Meta wants its AI agents to become accessible through glasses and other devices that remain with the user throughout the day.
Central to that strategy is Muse, the personal AI agent Meta introduced earlier in September. Muse is designed not only to answer questions but also to carry out tasks on behalf of users. It runs in a dedicated virtual environment and can use a browser and connected services to perform actions such as booking travel, filling in forms or preparing purchases.
Meta announced at Connect that Muse will be integrated with its AI glasses in the coming months. Users will be able to address their personal agent by voice while the glasses provide visual context through their cameras. This means Muse can potentially act on an object or document that the wearer is looking at without requiring the user to first describe it. Meta demonstrated examples involving products on shelves, flyers and shopping lists.
From assistant to agent
The distinction is important for Meta’s broader AI strategy. Existing voice assistants primarily respond to individual commands, whereas Muse is being positioned as an agent that can continue working across multiple applications and services.
Meta is consequently expanding the number of third-party platforms Muse can connect to. Newly announced integrations include retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy, payment services including PayPal, travel platform Expedia, grocery service Instacart and workplace tools such as Notion, GitHub and Box. Muse will also receive its own email address, allowing the agent to send and receive messages as part of tasks assigned by its user.
The company also showed Muse Charm, a small dedicated device intended primarily for voice interaction with the agent. Meta has so far released few technical details about the product, saying only that it will use a real-time voice model and fit into a pocket. More information is expected later this year.
The device illustrates Meta’s attempt to give its software agents multiple interfaces. Muse can currently be accessed through software, but Meta is now extending the agent to glasses and dedicated hardware.
More than 100 versions of AI glasses
At the same time, Meta is significantly expanding its smart-glasses portfolio. Together with EssilorLuxottica, the company plans to offer more than 100 different AI-glasses configurations across Ray-Ban, Oakley and Meta-branded products by the end of 2026.
Among the new products is Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3, featuring a 12-megapixel camera, up to nine hours of battery life and a programmable button for direct access to Meta AI. Prices start at $449.
Meta also introduced Ray-Ban Meta Audio, a camera-free model built around speakers, microphones and AI interaction. At 43 grams, it is the company’s lightest AI glasses model so far. It offers up to 12 hours of use, with additional battery capacity available through its charging case. Prices start at $349, with shipping scheduled for October.
Removing the camera creates a different category of wearable AI device. Instead of using computer vision to understand what the wearer sees, the glasses function primarily as an always-available audio interface for Meta’s AI services.
VR becomes lighter
Meta also used Connect to introduce Meta VR Glasses, a new virtual-reality device that weighs around 100 grams. Much of the computing hardware, battery and storage has been moved into a separate puck connected to the glasses by an optical cable.
The glasses use micro-OLED displays and provide 5K resolution, full-colour passthrough and control through eye tracking, hand gestures and voice. Meta is positioning them for entertainment, gaming and productivity. Users can create multiple virtual screens and turn a flat surface into a virtual keyboard and touchpad.
Meta has also integrated its AI agent into the operating system. Users can therefore use voice, gaze and gestures to perform actions such as opening applications, searching for information or configuring their virtual workspace.
Meta VR Glasses are scheduled to go on sale in spring 2027 for $1,299.99.
AI moves away from the screen
Taken together, the Connect announcements point toward a broader shift in how Meta expects people to interact with AI. Instead of treating generative AI as a separate application, the company is trying to place an agent between the user and the digital services they use.
Glasses provide cameras, microphones and speakers that allow the agent to gather context from the user’s environment. Connectors give it access to external software and services, while Muse is intended to interpret that information and carry out tasks.
Meta describes this direction as part of its longer-term ambition to develop what Zuckerberg calls “personal superintelligence.” That remains the company’s own characterization of the technology. Many of the functions demonstrated at Connect, including full Muse integration with AI glasses, have not yet been released and their practical capabilities will therefore have to be assessed once they become available.
For the wearable market, however, Meta’s direction is becoming clearer. The glasses are increasingly being developed not only as cameras, displays or audio devices, but as interfaces through which software agents can observe context, communicate with users and act on their behalf.
