From Chatbots to Agents: What Meta Is Preparing

According to a Reuters report from May 6, 2026, Meta is intensively working on developing a highly personalized digital assistant capable of performing routine tasks without the need for constant human supervision. The assistant is expected to be based on a new model called Muse Spark AI, which Meta is developing specifically for this purpose.

The agent is currently being tested internally by a group of employees. The goal is to create a tool that can connect several hardware and software services simultaneously, learn from data, and adapt to user behavior. In other words—it is no longer just a chatbot that answers questions, but a system that independently performs actions across applications and devices.

Inspired by OpenClaw: Why Meta Is Copying OpenAI

According to the Financial Times, Meta is taking inspiration from OpenClaw, an open-source agentic tool created under the leadership of developer Peter Steinberger. OpenClaw has seen rocket-like growth in popularity over the past months because it can autonomously connect various services and learn from interactions with minimal need for human intervention. OpenAI itself hired Steinberger in February 2026 and transferred the project to an independent foundation with financial support from OpenAI.

While OpenClaw primarily targets the developer community, Meta wants to get agentic AI directly into the hands of ordinary users across the ecosystem of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. According to The Information, Meta is simultaneously training an internal agent under the codename "Hatch", which is also inspired by OpenClaw. Internal testing of this project is expected to conclude by the end of June 2026.

Shopping Agent in Instagram: First Commercial Application

Besides the general personal assistant, Meta is planning a specific commercial application. According to The Information, the company wants to integrate a standalone agentic shopping tool directly into Instagram. The target launch date is before the end of the fourth quarter of 2026, i.e., before Christmas.

This tool could, for example, independently search for products, compare prices, track item availability, or even make purchases based on the user's previous preferences. For Meta's e-commerce and advertising business, which generates tens of billions of dollars annually, this would be a logical next step—the sales funnel would be significantly automated and accelerated.

Multi-Billion Bets and Investor Nervousness

Meta's agentic ambitions do not come cheap. At the end of April 2026, the company raised its annual capital expenditure forecast and signaled that it would pour billions of dollars more into AI infrastructure. Investors are considerably unnerved not only by the astronomical price tag but also by the potential risks associated with the global wave of resistance from young users against social networks and regulatory pressures in the European Union.

Nevertheless, Meta has long been betting that artificial intelligence will become the backbone of its services. "Investments in AI are a strategic priority for us," the company's recent business and financial planning indicates. The question remains whether it will succeed in transforming enormous costs into truly usable products.

What Does It Mean for Czech Users?

Meta AI—the company's existing virtual assistant—is available free of charge to Czech users directly within Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp since 2024. It supports the Czech language and allows text generation, image generation, and simple responses. The new agentic assistant could theoretically extend this support to autonomous task fulfillment in the Czech environment.

For the Czech market, however, it would be crucial how quickly and to what extent Meta can localize more complex agentic tasks—for example, integration with local e-shops, banking services, or transportation apps. Given the EU AI Act and strict European rules for algorithm transparency, the full launch of agentic functions in Europe may be delayed by regulatory barriers.

Meta has not yet officially announced a pricing model for potential premium features of the agentic assistant. The current Meta AI is provided free of charge, with costs covered by the company's advertising business.

Battle of Giants for the Future of Personal AI

Meta is thus joining a race in which OpenAI with GPT-5.5 and Operator, Google with Gemini, and Anthropic with Claude are already running. The difference lies in the approach—while OpenAI and Google sell subscriptions, Meta wants to offer agentic AI integrated into its free platforms and monetize it through advertising and commerce.

For the average user, this could mean that within the next year, they will open Instagram and instead of browsing stories, artificial intelligence itself will suggest what to buy, when to order it, and how to track delivery. Whether this will be truly useful or just another layer of algorithmic selling remains to be seen.