Meta is testing a human-in-the-loop fallback for its new personal AI assistant Muse, allowing human contractors to handle some phone calls placed through the digital agent, according to Reuters.
The report added that Meta enabled the “human concierge” feature for about half of its employees last week. Under the test, Muse can hand requests to a trained human agent, who places the call and handles the interaction on the user's behalf.
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The test comes shortly after Meta publicly launched a phone-calling feature for Muse, which allows the AI agent to call US businesses to handle tasks such as booking appointments, checking product availability and getting quotes.
The introduction of human agents has raised privacy concerns among some Meta employees, the Reuters report added. Internal posts show employees warned that sensitive information could potentially be shared unintentionally with contractors working in call centres.
Meta confirmed that it is testing the feature internally and said employee feedback has been “overwhelmingly positive”. The company said the trial is intended to gather feedback and improve safety and privacy protections before any broader public rollout.
“We're working with merchants to continue improving this potential calling feature, and will only roll it out when it's ready and with the proper disclosures,” Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts said.
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Meta began testing Muse's phone-calling capability with employees in August before gradually expanding it to users following the app's debut. The company enabled the human-concierge feature for about half of its employees last week, with an opt-out option available.
The development highlights one of the challenges facing AI agents as they move beyond answering questions and begin handling real-world tasks on behalf of users. Privacy safeguards and disclosures could become increasingly important as AI systems interact directly with businesses and other people.
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