Muse Daily: Oct 1 — A Pendant and a Blob: Why Meta and OpenAI Are Doing AI Hardware Backwards

The dedicated AI gadget is dead. Long live the dedicated AI gadget. This time with the software people actually want already installed.

According to The Verge, via Korea's Digital Today, Meta and OpenAI have both decided to take another run at AI hardware, but with the strategy flipped. Instead of launching a mysterious device and hoping a use case appears (the Humane AI Pin and the Friend pendant both flopped that way), they're getting the AI agent into people's hands first, then building the device around it.

It's the obvious strategy in hindsight. And the two companies are approaching it from opposite directions.

Photo: Unnerving duck (CC0)

Meta's pendant: Muse Charm

Meta is preparing a pendant-style device called “Muse Charm” that works with the Muse agent. Mark Zuckerberg reportedly compared it to a keychain, something you carry everywhere — and described it as the fastest way to talk to Muse and show it your surroundings when you're not wearing smart glasses. The plan is to launch in time for this year's holiday shopping season.

Think about what that implies. Meta already has the Ray-Ban smart glasses line, which puts a camera and microphone on your face. The Charm is the version for everyone else: no glasses, no screen, just a small pendant that keeps the agent within earshot. The bet is that once you're used to delegating tasks to Muse on your phone, you'll want the same agent available without pulling the phone out.

OpenAI's blob: Dots, then hardware later

OpenAI's path runs through software first, hardware eventually. At its September 29 dev day, the company unveiled “Dots,” an always-on personal agent with a playful blob-shaped interface you can personalize. CEO Sam Altman described Dots as a constant helper and collaborator: give it big tasks, and it learns about you over time and starts helping proactively.

On hardware, OpenAI is playing the long game. It's developing a device with former Apple designer Jony Ive, but public filings suggest no launch before February 2027. Altman called the idea of Dots eventually living in a physical device “very reasonable,” but the company is in no rush. The agent comes first; the object comes when the agent has earned its place in your day.

Why this order makes sense

The graveyard of AI gadgets tells the story. The Humane AI Pin promised to replace your phone and delivered frustration. The Friend pendant promised companionship and delivered a necklace that texts you. Both launched hardware before anyone had a reason to want the software inside it.

Meta and OpenAI watched that happen and drew the same conclusion: the device has to be the answer to a question users are already asking. “I wish I could talk to my agent without opening the app” is a question Muse users might genuinely ask after a month of use. “I wish I had a mysterious pin with a laser projector” was never anyone's question.

There's a second logic at work too. An agent that lives in your phone is fighting every other app for your attention. An agent on a pendant or a dedicated device gets a direct line to your day: your voice, your surroundings, your errands — without competing with notifications. If agents are going to be as central as the companies claim, owning the hardware channel matters.

Reasons to wait

Before you put anything on a pre-order list, a few honest caveats, several from the companies' own recent headlines.

First, the agents themselves are still earning trust. Muse's launch month included a Reuters report about human contractors quietly handling some phone calls, a dispute over iMessage access permissions, and a Facebook Marketplace incident where the agent reportedly shared a user's address without approval. An always-on pendant amplifies every one of those concerns: more microphones, more context, more chances for something to go sideways.

Second, OpenAI's own Dots voice demo reportedly stumbled at the dev day. Live demos are hard, but it's a reminder that the “just talk to it” future is still being debugged in public.

Third, the timeline is soft. “Holiday season” for the Charm could mean a limited launch, specific markets, or a quieter rollout than the headlines suggest. OpenAI's hardware is explicitly a 2027 story. Neither device exists as a product you can evaluate yet.

Photo: The Metropolitan Museum of Art (CC0)

What I'd actually do

If you're curious about the hardware wave, here's the sequence that makes sense to me:

  1. Learn the agent first. Both companies are explicit that the software is the product and the hardware is the accessory. Spend a month actually using Muse (or Dots) on your phone. If you don't reach for it daily, a pendant won't change that.
  2. Watch the holiday launch, don't join it. First-generation AI hardware has a perfect track record of disappointment. Let other people find the bugs.
  3. Think about what you'd actually want on your body. A pendant that hears everything is a bigger commitment than an app you can close. The privacy settings and data controls matter more, not less, when the device has no screen and no off switch you can see.

My take

The strategy reversal is the real story here, more than either device. Two companies that watched the AI Pin flame out both concluded the same thing: ship the agent, earn the habit, then sell the object. It's humble as far as Big Tech strategies go, and it's probably right. Whether the pendant or the blob becomes the next thing you carry. That's a 2027 question. For now, the hardware race is a software race wearing a costume.

Sources:
- Digital Today (citing The Verge): https://www.digitaltoday.co.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=704237

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