Text-based AI assistants are a hot market, and now two major rivals are leveling up. Instinct and Meta’s Muse have both added a feature that lets your AI agents make phone calls on your behalf — a capability that until now had been a key differentiator among competitors.
Instinct Launches Concierge Calling
San Francisco-based Instinct is one of the most popular text-based AI assistants, reportedly attracting huge investor interest at a $10 billion valuation. Its new calling feature, called Instinct Concierge, lets your agent place calls and act as a concierge.
Instinct’s founder Noah Shinn announced the feature on X on September 16, 2026. According to Shinn, Instinct Concierge is a “white glove service” meant to handle high-touch cases. The agent can:
Book restaurants that don’t take online reservations
Get you on your dentist’s cancellation list
Sort out problems with your cable bill
The feature is rolling out in early access to some users, with plans to expand to all users in time, Shinn said.
Meta’s Muse Adds Outbound Calls
Meta’s Muse AI assistant is keeping pace. It also just gained the ability to place calls to U.S. businesses. The tech giant said the feature will first roll out to users who ask Muse to make a call.
This essentially serves as a feature request mechanism. Meta said that whenever Muse launches new features, they’ll be available first to people who ask Muse about them.
Ryan Fox of Meta announced the expansion on X on September 16, 2026, noting that phone calling was one of the top requests from users.
Why This Matters for the AI Assistant Race
These calling features arrive as a number of rivals had been touting their ability to make calls as an advantage over Instinct. But with Instinct’s Concierge feature rollout, they’re all now in parity with each other on this front.
The text-based AI assistant market is getting crowded. Instinct, Wajo, Town, Ollie, and Meta’s Muse — which launched last week — are all vying for users’ attention and tasks.
Instinct’s Recent Momentum
Instinct has been shipping fast. Last week, the company also rolled out email addresses to let Instinct handle account sign-up and management. The company additionally now allows its users’ assistants to contact other people’s assistants for managing certain tasks, by adding those users to a trusted network.
Financially, Instinct raised $350 million at a $2.5 billion valuation last month. It is reportedly in talks to raise $1 billion at a $10 billion valuation, with investors showing heavy interest in text-based assistants that can navigate different surfaces for users.
Muse’s Strong Start
Both Instinct and Muse have seen great traction over the last few weeks. Analytics firm Sensor Tower noted that Muse outgrew the Meta AI app launch in the first few days. The app garnered over 730,000 downloads in the U.S., compared to the Meta AI app, which was downloaded 707,000 times post-launch in the first five days. The app even reached the No. 2 position in the top charts at one point.
What This Means for Users
For everyday users, the addition of AI agents calling means your assistant can now handle tasks that traditionally required you to pick up the phone. Whether it’s booking a hard-to-get reservation or dealing with a stubborn cable company, these agents are designed to save you time.
As both Instinct and Muse expand their calling capabilities, the competition in the text-based AI assistant space is only heating up. Users can expect more features and faster rollouts as these companies fight for market share.
Instinct and Meta’s Muse have both added calling features, bringing them to parity with other rivals in the AI assistant market. Instinct Concierge is rolling out in early access, while Muse’s outbound calling is available first to users who request it. With Instinct reportedly in talks for a $10 billion valuation and Muse seeing strong download numbers, the battle for AI assistant dominance is far from over.
