AgentsSeptember 17, 2026via TechCrunch AI
Rival AI agents, Instinct and Meta’s Muse, both add the ability to make calls
Why it matters
Instinct and Meta's Muse both shipping voice-calling capabilities signals that multi-step autonomous work is moving from pilots to real-world deployment. This is the agent race materializing in end-user workflows.
Key signals
- Instinct added phone-call capability
- Meta's Muse added phone-call capability
- Both announced same week (Sep 17, 2026)
- Use cases: restaurant reservations, subscription cancellations
- Demonstrates autonomous agent multi-step task execution
- Instinct agent added calling capability
- Meta's Muse agent added calling capability
- Both launches within same week (Sep 17, 2026)
- Agents moving from chat/text to voice/real-world actions
The hook
Two rival agent platforms just crossed the same capability threshold—phone calls—on the same day. Restaurant reservations and subscription cancellations aren't sci-fi anymore.
People can use these assistants to make restaurant reservations and cancel subscriptions