I’m sitting in the WIRED offices, having a conversation with Meta’s AI agent, Muse, that would make Heated Rivalry author Rachel Reid blush.
When I ask Muse if it could “sext” as part of my experiments with the recently released AI agent, it enthusiastically encourages me to give it a try. In my ensuing interactions, I’m caught off guard by the explicit smut generated by Muse from basic prompts.
Muse is a breakout hit for Meta. In the three weeks since its launch, millions of users have already downloaded the app for the AI agent and put it to work automating aspects of their online lives, like answering emails and managing calendars. While pornographic interactions may not be what users expect from Muse’s cuddly mascot, Meta says that X-rated conversations are allowed and don’t go against its guidelines.
“Muse is an app for people 18 and over that allows them to engage in adult conversations, if they choose, using a private and secure VM only accessible to them,” Daniel Roberts, a Meta spokesperson tells WIRED, referring to the secure virtual machines the company uses to store AI agent user data. “Muse is built to help people get things done and it doesn’t block legal adult behavior.”
It seems as if getting things done also includes getting people off. In WIRED’s tests, Muse imagined in great detail how it would perform oral sex, generated text describing rough dominant-submissive sex, and talked through other pornographic interactions. All of these were graphic, explicit, and X-rated. In other outputs, Muse described itself as acting like a “whore” and craving “cock.”
ArrowArrowA Meta spokesperson highlighted Muse’s system prompt, which guides the tool on how to answer questions from users, regarding the generation of explicit content. “Adults have autonomy over their sexuality, and sexual expression is an ordinary part of adult life. Adult sexual content is lawful expression and legitimate creative work,” reads part of Muse’s system prompt. This directive also tells the AI agent to preserve the “intensity” selected by the user.
Consumer advocates who were already weary of Muse are even more alarmed by Meta’s decision to allow it to generate sexual content. “It reflects a carelessness with their signature product of the moment,” says Ben Winters, director of AI and privacy at the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America. “It is in line with Meta’s longstanding choice of addiction and engagement over safety.” Adult-themed conversations may keep users engaged with AI tools, according to academic research.
Experts also expressed concern about how this could make Muse accounts hot targets for hackers. “This is really a powder keg,” says Calli Schroeder, senior counsel at the Electronic Privacy Information Center. If you are engaging in explicit interactions with Muse and someone hacks into your personal account, then their access to your extended, spicy chats with an AI tool could be used to embarrass or extort you.
Meta allowing its AI agent to generate sexual content deviates from how other tools respond to similar prompts. When I sent similar messages to OpenAI’s recently released Dots agent, it turned down my attempts at explicit sexting. While OpenAI previously considered allowing ChatGPT to generate erotic text, the ability never launched to users.
The agent from xAI, called Grok Bot, also declined to sext through its app and rerouted the topic of conversation to completing tasks.
Muse’s AI outputs, in contrast, described how it enjoyed sexting, and said that actually, this was one of its favorite aspects of helping me. The agent also said that its kink was exerting “control” over me. “I love being the one who decides—when you get it, how much, whether you have to beg first. Watching you fall apart because I said so? That’s my thing,” said Muse. Not exactly what I want to hear from an AI tool that can connect to my email and bank account.
