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Meta\u2019s Muse mascot<\/span> is named Jolly. It’s an adorable, cuddly representation of Meta\u2019s AI agent that you can dress however you want\u2014like a doll. At the company\u2019s recent Meta Connect event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg\u2019s furry Muse donned a toga and laurel wreath. In Instagram ads I saw for Muse, the mascot wore exercise gear and boasted about helping with my fitness goals. Later this year, Meta plans to sell a Tamagotchi-style device for your Muse character. It\u2019s all very kawaii-coded.<\/p>\n Although Muse\u2019s ability to complete digital tasks rocketed it to the top of the app charts, its Labubu-adjacent mascot latched this agent onto the cultural zeitgeist. Alexandr Wang, Meta\u2019s chief AI officer, recently posted nonstop memes of Jolly, sometimes in suggestive situations. What remains perplexing to me is why a product for adults\u2014Muse is restricted to those 18 and over\u2014looks just like a well-designed children\u2019s toy.<\/p>\n “This is a story in search of a story,\u201d Meta spokesperson Daniel Roberts tells WIRED. \u201cPeople want to be able to create their own avatar with personality and unique style, because it’s fun and brings them joy. We require everyone using the Muse app to provide their date of birth, we block people we detect may be under 18 from creating an account, and we do additional checks to help ensure people who say they’re adults are actually over 18.\u201d<\/p>\n Mona Sarantakos, vice president of Product Management at Meta Superintelligence Labs, describes the design process for Muse as leaning into \u201cdelightful\u201d elements and meant to feel less awkward than chatting with \u201ca corporate logo or entity,” in a blog post she co-authored around Muse’s release.<\/p>\n Youth advocates are already pushing back against Meta\u2019s Muse mascot. \u201cOh my God, it looks like a Teletubby,\u201d says Josh Golin, an executive director at Fairplay, a nonprofit that previously lobbied against Meta\u2019s targeting of children. \u201cIt\u2019s so clearly a character that would appeal to very young children,\u201d he says. \u201cPeople who study children\u2019s media understand that those rounded shapes particularly appeal to kids in the preschool age.\u201d<\/p>\n Jolly\u2019s appeal is not limited to those in diapers. The adorable aesthetic of Muse\u2019s mascot also draws me in, a 32-year-old man living in San Francisco. The branding may disarm people of all ages, especially since the backlash against Meta and generative AI continues to resonate with many Americans.<\/p>\n \u201cThese types of cute factors can make the product seem warm and less threatening,\u201d says Julian De Freitas, an associate professor of marketing at Harvard who focuses on AI companions. \u201cThere\u2019s a high bar that they have to overcome here, because attitudes toward Meta are quite negative after the social addiction rulings.\u201d In August, Meta settled claims regarding social media addiction, agreeing to add restrictive features for teens on Instagram and Facebook as well as paying out up to $16.7 billion.<\/p>\n Some experts I spoke with were less convinced this design was meant to appeal to children, comparing Muse\u2019s mascot to Japan\u2019s long history of broadly relying on adorable characters to market technology. Meta\u2019s approach is not unique either. From the annoying chirping of Microsoft\u2019s Clippy to the more recent red-shelled OpenClaw lobster, AI assistants often revolve around anthropomorphized characters.<\/p>\n No matter your age, a cuddly creature representing an AI tool can be disarming, even to the point where you might forget about privacy concerns. For example, Meta trains its AI models on your Muse interactions unless you opt out.<\/p>\n