Meta's Muse Hits 500,000 Users in Week One, Faces Copying Claims

Meta's AI agent Muse signed up more than 500,000 users in its first week and claimed the number one spot in Apple's App Store — but the launch is shadowed by claims that Meta copied an open-source project called OpenClaw.

Meta acknowledges the influence. The company describes Muse as "heavily inspired" by OpenClaw, an admission first reported by The Decoder. The overlap goes beyond inspiration, according to the report: some file names and file contents in Muse are nearly identical to those in the open-source project.

The user numbers explain why the story matters. Half a million sign-ups in seven days and a top App Store ranking signal strong consumer demand for AI agents — assistants that perform tasks rather than just answer questions. Muse's product imagery reflects that positioning, with speech bubbles showing requests such as "Book it please!" and responses like "I analyzed your new expenses and adjusted your budget."

The copying claims raise a different set of stakes. Open-source projects typically carry licenses that dictate how their code can be reused, and near-identical file names and contents in a proprietary product invite scrutiny of whether Meta complied. For a company of Meta's scale, a provenance dispute over its newest AI product could complicate the launch's momentum and renew criticism of how large tech firms treat community-built software.

OpenAI is watching closely. According to the report, OpenAI is already discussing a response of its own — a signal that Muse's instant traction has registered with Meta's closest competitor and that the AI agent market may be heading for a rapid escalation.

The competitive context is straightforward. Agent products have become the next battleground after chatbots, and an app that reaches chart-topping adoption in a week resets expectations for what a successful launch looks like. If OpenAI ships a rival product in response, the pace of the category's development will likely accelerate further.

For now, Meta holds the numbers and the top chart position, along with an uncomfortable question about where its code came from.