Meta has updated its AI assistant with calendar access, daily briefings, and the ability to run recurring tasks automatically. Ask it to find you a restaurant, check your calendar for a free evening, and add it to your schedule: it handles all three steps. Ask it to send you a weekly meal plan every Sunday: it will do so without you having to ask again.
The update also adds better web research, where you can redirect the assistant mid-search, similar to how ChatGPT works. The whole thing runs on Muse Spark 1.1, Meta's newest AI model, released July 9, 2026. It is the first model from Meta's new internal AI division, Meta Superintelligence Labs.
This is a notable change of direction. Meta's chief product officer said last year that the strategy was to focus on entertainment and social connection rather than obsessing over productivity the way OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic do. What has changed is simple: the race for the most-used AI assistant is getting tighter. ChatGPT crossed 1 billion monthly active users in mid-2026. Google's Gemini app passed 900 million. Meta has around 1.2 billion monthly users for Meta AI, but the daily engagement numbers are much lower: roughly 40 million people use it every day, compared to far higher rates for ChatGPT. Adding productivity features is a direct attempt to get people to open it more often.
The distribution advantage is real and significant. Around 63% of Meta AI interactions happen on WhatsApp, which is the dominant messaging app across large parts of Europe, Latin America, South Asia, and Africa. When these new features reach WhatsApp in the coming weeks, they will land on a platform that hundreds of millions of people already use for both personal and small business communication. No other AI assistant has that kind of entry point into daily life outside North America.
There is a privacy angle worth knowing. Since December 2025, Meta uses conversations with its AI assistant to personalize ads across Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp. If your calendar tells the assistant you are planning a kitchen renovation, that is now a signal Meta can use. Users in the EU, UK, and South Korea have formal rights to opt out under local privacy laws. Most people in the US and the rest of the world do not have that same option.
For professionals who already live inside Meta's apps, especially those who rely on WhatsApp for client or supplier communication, these new features are genuinely useful and cost nothing extra. For anyone using a paid AI assistant primarily to manage their schedule and daily briefings, Meta is now offering a direct free alternative, though one that sits inside a platform with different data practices than standalone tools like Claude or Gemini.
The features are available now in select markets on the Meta AI app and website. WhatsApp and other platforms follow in the coming weeks.