Text-based AI agents have spent months promising to act rather than merely answer. Now Instinct and Meta’s newly launched Muse are putting that pitch to a more old-fashioned test: the telephone.

Instinct founder Noah Shinn announced that the startup’s new Instinct Concierge can call businesses to book restaurants without online reservations, join a dentist’s cancellation list or untangle a cable-bill dispute. The feature is initially available to a limited early-access group, with a broader rollout planned. Meta, meanwhile, has added the ability for Muse to place calls to U.S. businesses, initially for users who specifically request it. The twin launches erase a calling advantage that other agent rivals had been touting and put the two high-profile products on more even footing.¹

The moves follow a rapid expansion in what Instinct says its assistant can handle. Last week, it introduced email addresses for account sign-ups and management, as well as a trusted network allowing assistants to coordinate with other users’ assistants. Investor enthusiasm has followed: Instinct recently raised $350 million at a $2.5 billion valuation and is reportedly discussing a far larger round, while Muse drew more than 730,000 U.S. downloads shortly after launch.

But the phone feature is also a preview of the bigger—and messier—agentic-commerce fight. Instinct and Muse promise help with groceries, flights and other transactions that could shift shopping away from retailers’ websites. Jason Del Rey, a retail journalist, notes that previous attempts at AI checkout stumbled: Walmart said conversion for OpenAI’s Instant Checkout was “awful,” while real-time product data, bot defenses and retailer hostility remain major obstacles.

There are already warning signs. Users have reported botched Instinct refund handling and one lost restaurant-reservation account after the agent repeatedly hit Resy. Retailers, especially Amazon, have reason to resist agents that could reduce them to invisible fulfillment pipes; Amazon is limiting bot access, withholding timely pricing data and building more AI tools inside its own ecosystem. The agents may now be able to call—but earning the right to transact autonomously is another matter.²