Zuckerberg spooks Wall Street: Who is threatened by the Muse app?

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Muse triggers a selloff

Shares across several industries fell on Tuesday as investors began assessing the risks from wider adoption of AI agents. The S&P 500 Financials Index lost about 2% and closed at its lowest level since July, while the banking index fell roughly 3%.

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Companies that rely heavily on long-term customer relationships and recurring payments were among the hardest hit. Charles Schwab shares fell 6.1%, Allstate dropped 5.5%, Ameriprise Financial lost 4.4%, and Raymond James declined more than 3%. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo each fell more than 3%, while Morgan Stanley lost 2.9%.

The selloff spread well beyond the financial sector. Planet Fitness fell 9.5%, Booking Holdings dropped 2.6%, while European telecom companies Orange and BT Group lost about 4% each. A Goldman Sachs basket of stocks that are particularly dependent on customers sticking with existing providers fell 2.6% in one day, its worst performance since February. The basket includes AT&T, T-Mobile US, Allstate, Progressive, Netflix, Paramount Skydance, Expedia and Booking.

Why the market saw a threat

Muse quickly became one of the most popular AI apps in the U.S. According to Sensor Tower, the app was downloaded more than 2.5 million times in its first 13 days. It reached No. 1 among free apps in the U.S. App Store and moved ahead of ChatGPT, Claude and Grok.

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What sets Muse apart from traditional chatbots is that it can do more than answer questions — it can take actions on behalf of users. The agent connects to Gmail, Apple and Google calendars, OpenTable and other services, and can fill out forms, organize inboxes, book restaurant tables and search the web for offers.

Meta has also integrated Muse into WhatsApp, meaning the service’s actual audience could be much larger than the number of standalone app downloads suggests. It can be used for free within certain limits, while expanded plans cost $20 and $100 per month.

After the first data showing Muse’s popularity was released, Meta shares jumped more than 11% in a single day and have gained more than 20% since the app’s launch. The company’s market value increased by more than $200 billion.

Who risks losing customers

But Meta’s gains have come alongside a selloff in other sectors. Investors are now assessing which companies could lose customers, fees or part of their revenue to a new AI agent.

The biggest risk is for businesses where customers often keep the same plan, insurer or service provider for years even when better offers are available. Goldman Sachs singled out telecom companies, insurers and utilities. Banks, brokers, streaming services and travel booking platforms are also seen as vulnerable.

For example, an AI agent could compare AT&T and T-Mobile plans, check insurance offers from Allstate and Progressive, or find a cheaper hotel without going through Booking or Expedia. The same applies to subscriptions: an agent could identify services a person no longer uses, cancel them or switch to a cheaper alternative.

The threat is similar for financial companies. If customers no longer need to study fees, call support or fill out forms themselves, it will become easier to move money between banks, switch brokers or choose another product.

Intermediaries face a separate risk. Bloomberg Intelligence analysts believe such agents could themselves become a new gateway to online services and earn a share of transactions. In that case, some of the revenue that currently goes to Booking, Expedia, Uber or other platforms could shift to the owners of AI agents.

Autonomy comes with caveats

Muse’s capabilities do not yet mean that AI has fully replaced humans. Meta tested a calling feature in which some conversations with businesses were handled by human contractors instead of the agent. According to internal company data, this pushed the success rate of such calls to 95%–98%, while fully automated calls performed worse.

The approach raised concerns inside Meta. Employees warned that sensitive information could be unintentionally disclosed when calls were handed off to human contractors. After complaints, the company temporarily rolled back the test and said the feature would return only after safety rules and disclosure requirements were improved.

There is another barrier as well: the platforms themselves. Amazon has already blocked Muse from accessing its store, citing privacy and security risks, while Shopify has taken the opposite approach and started working with Meta to allow the agent to complete purchases in its stores.

But the market reaction shows that investors are already treating AI agents as a new intermediary between consumers and businesses. If they take over search, comparison and service booking, companies will have to compete not only for human attention, but also for the choice made by an algorithm.

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