Meta's paid agent Hatch to launch alongside new Watermelon model in October

Hatch is reportedly being built as a consumer-friendly version of Meta's agent platform, OpenClaw. It's expected to connect to outside services like DoorDash, Etsy, Reddit, Yelp, and Outlook, handling searches, orders, and scheduling on the user's behalf. The dashboard is said to be customizable, letting users add features such as a fitness tracker or a travel planner as they see fit. It fits into CEO Mark Zuckerberg's push to diversify beyond advertising revenue — an attempt to turn Meta's AI spending into actual sales.

Tiered pricing, topping out at $199.99 a month

The internal documents reportedly outline a plan with both free and paid tiers, with the top-end premium subscription priced as high as $199.99 a month. The exact tier structure and what separates each level haven't been disclosed, but the top price point is clearly well above what typical subscription services charge. Whether that price sticks remains to be seen — pricing a consumer AI agent this high isn't exactly common practice.

Whether Watermelon joins the Muse lineup is still unclear

The new model set to power Hatch is reportedly named Watermelon, with an October launch as the target. Meta has released a string of Muse-branded models in recent months. Muse Spark 1.2, unveiled in early August, scored 54 on Artificial Analysis's Intelligence Index, tying for third place with SpaceXAI. That was followed by Muse Glimmer, an open 30-billion-parameter model built for local agents, and Muse Code, a terminal-based coding agent — three releases in four months.

Given that pace, Watermelon could well be the next entry in the Muse line, but it's reportedly still undecided whether it will carry the Muse brand or launch as a standalone model.

Extending the agent platform to WhatsApp

Separately from Hatch, Meta is reportedly also building a platform that would let users plug multiple AI agents into WhatsApp. That suggests the company isn't stopping at Hatch alone for its consumer agent business — it's looking to extend into the messaging app where users already spend the most time. A single set of internal documents can't be taken as final confirmation of pricing or launch timing, but the direction is clear: Meta is preparing to sell AI agents directly to consumers.

Editor's take

What makes Hatch interesting is that it marks Meta's first attempt at an AI product that charges users directly, rather than monetizing through ads. Up to now, Meta's AI work has mostly served to boost ad performance on Facebook and Instagram feeds. A subscription priced as high as $199.99 a month is a completely different business model. That price range puts it in the same weight class as OpenAI's Pro-tier subscription, which means Meta will need to prove that value through a single dashboard linking DoorDash, Etsy, and Reddit.

Looking at it generationally, the shift is even clearer. The string of releases over the past four months — Muse Spark, Muse Glimmer, Muse Code — were all aimed at developers and the open-source community. Hatch and Watermelon, by contrast, are the first products aimed squarely at ordinary consumers' wallets. For a company that's been racking up language models with Intelligence Index scores like 54, this looks like a shift in what it's competing on — not how smart the model is, but how much it can do for you.

In practical terms, there may not be much reason for Korean users to pay close attention to this service just yet. The integrations — DoorDash, Etsy, Yelp — are built around American consumer lifestyle services, so an early launch reaching Korea seems unlikely. That said, the WhatsApp agent platform could still be a useful reference point for messenger-based agent competition in Korea, in a space where something like KakaoTalk might follow a similar path.

Hatch's official pricing and launch date will likely be finalized first, within the coming weeks. Whether Watermelon turns out to be part of the Muse family or a standalone model probably won't become clear until its October reveal.