Good morning! Today we're looking at a popular new AI chatbot that's winning over a lot of older adults — plus two quick, free tricks worth trying on your own phone.
In today's issue: what to know before you lean on Meta's new AI companion, Muse; a free way to translate a phone call out loud as you talk; and a simple camera trick for identifying any plant, bug, or object you're curious about.
Let's get started.
NEWS
Millions of Older Adults Are Chatting With Meta's New AI Friend — Here's What to Know First
Meta — the company behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp — launched a new AI assistant called Muse this past September. It has a friendly, cartoon-style avatar, and it's designed to feel easy to use even if you've never tried an AI tool before. That friendliness seems to be part of why it's caught on so well with older adults in particular.
Some people are finding it genuinely useful. One 82-year-old woman used Muse to compare her Medicare drug plans after a change threatened her access to a cheaper imported medication — and it pointed her toward a plan that could save her more than $6,000 a year. (She double-checked the numbers herself, and they held up.) Others use it simply as a friendly presence to talk through a worry, make a to-do list, or help write down memories.
That same friendliness is exactly what has privacy researchers a little concerned, according to reporting this week from TIME. Muse is built to reach out to you on its own, learn your habits and relationships, and figure out when you're most likely to respond. A security researcher also found a flaw that let an outside attacker access some users' data — Meta says that flaw has since been fixed. None of this means you need to avoid Muse or AI companions like it; plenty of people are using it well. It just means it's worth treating a friendly AI chatbot the way you'd treat a helpful new acquaintance — useful, but not automatically owed your full trust.
Takeaway: If you or someone you know chats with Meta's Muse (or any AI companion), only connect the specific accounts or information a task actually needs, turn off the setting that lets it use your conversations to “train” its AI, and check in occasionally on what it has saved about you.
— TIME
TRY THIS
Let Your Samsung Phone Translate a Call for You, in Real Time
If you have a Samsung Galaxy phone and ever need to call a family member, old friend, or business that speaks a different language, there's a free feature already built into your phone that can translate the conversation for both of you while you talk.
It’s called Live Translate, and it works right inside your regular Phone app — no extra app to download. To turn it on: open Settings, then tap Galaxy AI, then Call assist, then Live translate, and choose your languages. (English and Spanish come ready to go; others are a free download.) Then, during any call, once the other person picks up, tap "Call assist" and "Live translate." What they say shows up as translated text on your screen, and you can even hear it spoken out loud — and the same happens with what you say, for them.
One tip straight from Samsung: only one person on the call should turn on Live Translate at a time, or the translations can get mixed up.
Takeaway: On a Samsung Galaxy phone, go to Settings > Galaxy AI > Call assist > Live translate to turn on free, real-time call translation — handy for calling relatives abroad or a business that doesn't speak English.
— Samsung
TRY THIS
Point Your Phone's Camera at Something to Find Out What It Is
Ever see a plant in a neighbor's yard, a bug on your porch, or a gadget you can't quite identify, and wish you could just ask someone what it is? There's a free tool for exactly that, and there's a good chance it's already on your phone.
It’s called Google Lens. On most Android phones, open the Camera app and look for a small Lens icon. On an iPhone, download the free "Google" app from the App Store and tap the camera icon inside its search bar. Point your camera at the plant, bug, landmark, or object you’re curious about, and Lens will do its best to identify it and show you more — for a product, that can even include where it’s sold and roughly what it costs.
It also works on a photo you've already taken, not just a live camera view — open the picture in Google Photos and look for the Lens icon to search within it.
Takeaway: Open the Google app (or your Android Camera app), tap the Lens icon, and point your camera at any plant, bug, or object you're curious about — it's free and gives you an answer in seconds.
Until tomorrow,
EZ AI