Meta revealed on Tuesday that it is broadening its AI agent Muse to serve small businesses, while also introducing new integrations with platforms such as Shopify, Dropbox, Slack, and others.

According to the tech giant, this agent is designed to assist owners in running their operations and attracting new customers. By connecting Muse to the software that small business owners already rely on for managing sales, operations, and marketing, Meta is wagering that an AI agent equipped with knowledge of a company's entire operation will prove more valuable than a standalone chatbot. This strategy comes as Meta continues to compete with rivals like OpenAI and Google.

Muse is also capable of linking to Instagram professional account analytics, Facebook Pages, and Meta ad accounts. Meta states that the AI agent understands what a business sells, how a brand sounds, and what customers ask about most frequently.

Further integrations encompass Asana, Box, Canva, Figma, Granola, HighLevel, Intuit QuickBooks, Klaviyo, Lovable, Notion, Stripe, and Zoom. Muse for Small Business is offered for free with usage limits, and businesses seeking greater usage can buy a subscription plan.

In a blog post, Meta wrote: "Small businesses have been growing on our apps for nearly two decades. They told us they're short on hours, not ideas. So we built Muse for Small Business to help get work done with the tools they already use."

Meta has been concentrating on extending its AI tools beyond consumers into the enterprise market. The debut of Muse for Small Business occurred one day after Meta unveiled "Meta Enterprise Platform," a new effort aimed at broadening the company's AI offerings to businesses and corporate clients. This step could help Meta achieve a return on the substantial funds it is investing in AI.

The tech giant brought on Chirantan "CJ" Desai, the CEO of database software giant MongoDB, to head the new initiative. Meta says it will concentrate on delivering its full technology stack, including Muse, Meta Business Agent, Muse API, Muse Code, and more, to businesses and developers. The launch of Meta Enterprise Platform is fueled by the momentum of Muse, which debuted earlier this month and climbed to the top of the U.S. and Canada app charts ahead of ChatGPT.