Meta and the Inspiration Behind Muse
Meta, the tech giant, is at the center of an interesting discussion about the origins of its new artificial intelligence product, Muse. The buzz began when users and tech enthusiasts started noticing similarities between Muse and OpenClaw, an open-source project that had already gained many followers. The speculation was that Muse could actually be OpenClaw disguised in a more consumer-friendly package. And, in part, they were right.
Nat Friedman, head of product at Meta's Superintelligence Labs, confirmed that Muse was "definitely inspired" by OpenClaw. However, he made it clear that Muse was "built from the ground up." Friedman, who joined Meta after his tenure as CEO of GitHub, revealed that the Meta team fell in love with OpenClaw and wanted to create something similar that could be scaled to billions of people.
The Influence of OpenClaw
OpenClaw, being an open-source project, naturally served as inspiration for Meta. After all, its success was so remarkable that even OpenAI acquired its creator earlier this year. Meta's strategy of drawing inspiration from promising products and incorporating their best features is not new. A famous example is the adoption of the story format from Snapchat.
The discussion gained momentum on social media when Ansh Nanda, co-founder of an AI app, stated that "Muse is LITERALLY OpenClaw for normies." The statement was accompanied by a conversation with Muse, where the AI admitted that the similarity between its system files and those of OpenClaw was not just "a coincidence," but rather "a match."
Attention-Grabbing Similarities
The conversation on social media intensified when other users began sharing their own comparisons and discoveries. A curious detail was the presence of a file named SOUL.md in both Muse and OpenClaw. This file, written in Markdown, defines the personality, communication style, values, and behavioral limits of an AI agent. Additionally, it was noted that not only were the file names the same, but their content was almost identical.
When asked about these similarities, Friedman did not deny the claims. Instead, he praised Peter Steinberger, the creator of OpenClaw, stating that he "hit the nail on the head" with these elements. Meta seems to have followed a familiar script: admire, adapt, and scale.
The Success of Muse
Despite the comparisons and criticisms, Muse has been a success. Recently, it reached the top spot in the U.S. App Store, even surpassing the launch of ChatGPT when directly comparing the available markets and platforms.
Meta, through a spokesperson, reiterated Friedman's statement and did not add anything further to the subject. Meanwhile, Muse continues to gain popularity, proving that even with clear inspirations, there is room for innovation and success in the world of artificial intelligence.
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