Meta's new AI agent Muse hit 2.8 million downloads in two weeks, and by comparing policies and switching them for users, it goes straight at the inertia the finance industry profits from.
Zuckerberg is trying again. In 2019 he wanted to rebuild currency with Libra and the industry pushed him back; this month his company Meta launched Muse, a personal AI agent that 'proactively helps with people's goals.'
What it's taking isn't traffic, it's that 83%
Muse recorded 2.8 million downloads in two weeks, a faster start than ChatGPT, and hit number one on both Apple's and Google's stores. It doesn't just send emails and book travel — it compares and switches insurance for you.
The author tried a similar app, Instinct: after his car was stolen he replaced it with a model even easier to steal, and his premium jumped 83% at renewal. He slept, and it had gathered every quote and was ready to switch him.
One driver used Muse to move his auto policy from Liberty Mutual to Progressive and saved $3,500 a year. Aggregator sites could already do this, but the friction was higher — and the agent removes it.
Inertia is the margin
Angela Strange, a partner at Andreessen Horowitz, says this is what insurers and banks 'should be TERRIFIED about': inertia and information asymmetry will no longer keep customers in place.
A good chunk of finance profits rests on exactly those two things: people can't be bothered to switch, and can't read the fine print. Once an agent handles it, more people shop around, and the margins get recalculated.
In one line: the first jobs AI agents take may belong to businesses that only made money because you couldn't be bothered.
Why it matters
A large slice of finance profits comes from customers who cannot be bothered and cannot read the fine print. An assistant willing to run the errands resets that hidden asset to zero — asking an AI before you renew may beat reading ten explainers.
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