Meta Gives Away Muse Code, Betting It Can Power Everything From TVs to Toasters

Meta wants Muse everywhere, and it is willing to hand over the code to make that happen. The company is making the technology available for free, pitching it to hardware makers as something they can drop into products ranging from smart TVs to small kitchen appliances.

The strategy is a familiar one in tech. Rather than keeping Muse locked inside its own apps and devices, Meta is courting third-party manufacturers, betting that wide adoption matters more than licensing revenue. If enough gadgets ship with Muse inside, it becomes a standard that other companies have to account for.

Giving the code away lowers the barrier for manufacturers that lack the budget or expertise to build their own intelligent features. A television maker or an appliance brand can adopt a ready-made foundation instead of starting from scratch or paying a rival for access. For Meta, that means influence over how people interact with devices far beyond phones and headsets.

There is also a competitive angle. Google, Amazon and Apple each have their own platforms for the connected home, and each uses them to tie hardware to its ecosystem. An open, free alternative gives device makers a way to avoid dependence on any one of those companies, which could make Meta's offer attractive to brands wary of being locked in.

Open releases do not come without trade-offs. Free code can spread quickly, but the company that publishes it has less control over how it is used, and quality can vary from one product to the next. Manufacturers will also want to know how much support Meta will provide and how closely the code stays tied to Meta's own services.

Details on licensing terms, supported hardware and early partners will determine whether this is a real platform play or mainly a signal of intent. For now, the message is clear. Meta sees Muse as something that should live in the objects around the home, and it is lowering the price of entry to zero to get it there.