Mark Zuckerberg opened this week's Meta Connect keynote in Menlo Park with an admission: the company got its own roadmap backward. Meta expected the metaverse to arrive first and AI superintelligence to follow, so it built for the metaverse. Advances in AI moved faster than that plan assumed, and the keynote that followed was almost entirely about Muse, Meta's personal AI agent, with the metaverse hardware relegated to a supporting role at the end.

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Muse gets a locked room and an email address

Zuckerberg's centerpiece announcement was Meta Secure VM, described as a private data process that powers Muse and that even Meta itself cannot access. Chief AI officer Alexandr Wang followed with a list of functional additions rather than architecture: Muse agents are getting their own email addresses, a step meant to let the agent handle correspondence and bookings without borrowing a person's inbox. Users will also be able to customize their agent's voice, and Muse is expanding from the US into Canada.

Zuckerberg also previewed Muse Charm, a small always-on device he compared to a Tamagotchi, meant to give people a way to reach their Muse agent that isn't a phone screen or a pair of glasses. It remains in development, with no ship date given.

None of these additions change what Muse fundamentally is: a general-purpose agent Meta launched on September 8 that handles multi-step tasks across email, calendar, payments, dining and shopping. What changed this week is how much infrastructure Meta is willing to build specifically to make that agent trustworthy enough to hand real tasks to, from the Secure VM down to giving it its own inbox rather than borrowed access to a person's.

Seven new retail partners

The most concrete business news from the keynote was a list of new companies connecting their platforms to Muse: Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Expedia, Instacart and Wayfair. Each partnership lets Muse act directly inside that company's ordering or booking systems rather than navigating a public website the way a browser-based agent would.

That distinction matters against the backdrop of the past week. Amazon blocked Muse from shopping on Amazon.com on the grounds that the agent did not identify itself and appeared to store customer credentials, a dispute we covered in our report on the Amazon-Muse standoff. A retailer that signs a partnership agreement with Meta sidesteps that fight entirely: Muse gets sanctioned access instead of working around a site's terms of service. Seven retailers choosing that path in one week is a sign Meta is actively building the alternative to the browser-agent approach that got it blocked at Amazon.

Glasses built around a trust problem

Zuckerberg's AI glasses segment spent unusual time on privacy, a direct response to earlier criticism over unauthorized recording and concerns that Meta staff could view content captured through the devices. The company is rolling out private processing for Meta Glasses, mirroring the Muse Secure VM pitch: recordings and voice data process in a way Meta says its own staff cannot access.

Meta also announced audio-only AI glasses, aimed at people who want a Meta AI connection without a camera on their face at all, alongside improved audio support for hearing-impaired users. It is a narrower product than the camera-equipped line, built for a narrower set of privacy concerns.

New hardware, old playbook

On the hardware side, Meta showed the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3, a slimmer frame with longer battery life, new capture modes and Dolby Atmos spatial audio recording. Two additional styles, Aviator and Zena, join an updated Adventurer model priced at $249. Meta also announced a celebrity collaboration with K-pop star Lisa, following the same template as its earlier Kylie Jenner glasses line, complete with charms inspired by her pets.

The more advanced Meta Display glasses, which have been sold out for months, are finally catching up with demand, and Meta says it plans to expand availability to more regions. A shortage lasting this long on a wearable product is itself a data point about how much appetite exists for the higher-end version of this hardware.

Meta did not give a specific timeline for the wider regional rollout of Meta Display, beyond saying it is a priority now that supply is catching up with the demand the product generated at launch.

A lighter VR headset, still part of the plan

Zuckerberg and Reality Labs chief Andrew Bosworth closed the keynote with Meta's next VR headset, which weighs about a fifth of the current Quest 3. The weight cut comes from a tethered design: the headset itself carries only sensors and the display, while compute, battery and storage move into a separate "puck" that clips to a pocket or bag and connects by an optical tether.

The new headset integrates Muse directly, letting users manage settings and content through conversational prompts rather than menus. It ships in spring at $1,299, positioned by Meta as a combined cinema, virtual computer and gaming device. The framing is notable given the rest of the keynote: even as Meta describes itself pivoting from the metaverse to AI, the metaverse hardware roadmap has not been shelved, just folded into the AI story rather than leading it.

Reading this against the Amazon block

Taken together, the keynote reads less like a single big announcement and more like Meta hardening Muse on every front where it has recently taken criticism or been blocked outright: a technical privacy architecture for both Muse and the glasses, formal retail partnerships that avoid a repeat of the Amazon dispute, and hardware aimed at making Muse harder to avoid, embedded in glasses, a dedicated charm device, and now a VR headset too.

None of this resolves the open legal and trust questions the Amazon situation raised about how an AI agent should identify itself and handle credentials on sites it has no formal agreement with. What Meta Connect shows is a parallel strategy: rather than settle that fight everywhere at once, sign enough retailers directly that the fight matters less.

Frequently asked questions

What is Meta Secure VM?

Meta Secure VM is a private data process announced at Meta Connect 2026 that powers the Muse AI agent. Meta says the system is designed so that even Meta's own staff cannot access the data it processes.

Which retailers are now working with Muse?

Meta announced new partnerships with Walmart, Best Buy, Gap, Sephora, Expedia, Instacart and Wayfair, allowing Muse to connect directly to their platforms rather than browsing their public websites.

How much do the new Ray-Ban Meta glasses cost?

The updated Adventurer model is priced at $249. Meta did not announce pricing for the Ray-Ban Meta Gen 3 or the new Aviator and Zena styles at the keynote.

When is Meta's new VR headset shipping, and what does it cost?

Meta's next VR headset, roughly a fifth the weight of the Meta Quest 3, ships in spring 2027 at $1,299. It uses a tethered design with compute and battery in a separate connected "puck," and integrates the Muse AI agent directly.