I Thought I Was Getting Into Meta's Muse AI. Then Came the Waitlist. 😭

One YouTube thumbnail. One excited AI enthusiast. One registration journey. And one unexpected lesson about user trust.

It All Started With a YouTube Thumbnail

October 15, 2026.

Just another ordinary morning in Spain.

I opened YouTube, casually browsing through videos about AI, technology, and all the interesting things happening in this rapidly changing world.

Then something caught my attention.

"MUSE — Complete Tutorial"

Underneath the thumbnail was a website address:

muse.ai

Muse? What is Muse?

A new AI tool? A research assistant? Another chatbot? Something completely different?

I had no idea.

But curiosity is a dangerous thing when you love experimenting with technology. 😄

Within seconds, I opened the website.

I noticed Meta's branding.

Oh! So this was connected to Meta.

Now I was even more interested.

Enter My Old Friend, ChatGPT

Like many self-learners, I have a habit.

Whenever I discover a new technology, I start asking questions.

What is it? Who built it? What does it do? Why does it exist? And most importantly:

What can I learn from it?

So I asked ChatGPT about Muse.

My AI friend explained that Meta had launched Muse as a personal AI agent in September 2026.

Interesting!

But then came the disappointing part.

Muse was not generally available in Spain, where I live.

I stopped reading.

Wait a minute.

Let me check that myself!

I returned to the Muse website.

And there it was.

A login option.

A beautiful opportunity to prove my AI assistant wrong! 😂

I thought:

"Today, my dear ChatGPT, I am going to show you that your information is outdated!"

Oh, the confidence!

If only I knew what was coming.

The Login Button That Gave Me Hope

I clicked the login option.

A box appeared in the middle of the page.

Enter your email address.

Simple enough.

I entered my email.

Next came a verification step.

Check your email and enter the confirmation code.

No problem!

I opened my inbox, found the Meta verification message, copied the code, and entered it.

Everything seemed to be working.

My excitement was growing.

Then came the next screen.

First name.

Surname.

Date of birth.

Fine!

I filled in the requested information.

At this point, I was genuinely excited.

Email verified? Check.

Personal details entered? Check.

Registration moving forward? Check.

Surely the next screen would be my shiny new AI agent!

I imagined exploring Muse, discovering its capabilities, and perhaps learning something useful for my own AI automation experiments.

I clicked to continue.

And then...

BOOOOOOM! 💥

The screen displayed:

Join the waitlist for Muse

Muse isn't available in your country or region yet. We'll let you know when it's available to you.

And underneath?

A bright blue button.

Join waitlist

...

Wait.

WHAT?!

😭😭😭

My excitement disappeared.

For a moment, I just stared at the screen.

I had verified my email.

I had entered my name.

I had provided my date of birth.

I had followed the registration process.

And only now was I being told that the service was unavailable in my region?

My dear Muse...

Couldn't you have told me that BEFORE asking for my details?

I did not click the waitlist button.

I was too disappointed.

For a moment, I felt completely frozen.

Was This a Scam? No, That's Not My Claim.

After the initial shock, I started thinking more carefully.

I am not claiming that Meta intentionally deceived me.

I am not claiming that my personal information was misused.

And I cannot say from this experience alone what information was retained or how it was processed.

There may be legitimate technical reasons for the registration sequence.

For example, the process may involve creating a general Meta account, verifying identity, or checking age eligibility before determining which services someone can access.

I understand that.

But there is still a user-experience question worth asking.

If regional availability is already restricted, why not make that information clear before the user begins providing personal details?

That is the part I found disappointing.

The Real Problem Wasn't the Waitlist

Let's be clear.

I have no problem with a company releasing its product in selected countries first.

Products need infrastructure, testing, regulatory preparation, support, and gradual rollouts.

That's understandable.

My disappointment was about the sequence of information.

I entered the process believing I was getting closer to the product.

Every completed step increased that expectation.

Email verification felt like progress.

Entering personal details felt like progress.

Continuing to the next screen felt like progress.

Then the final message changed the entire meaning of the journey.

What I had interpreted as progress toward access turned out to be a registration process that did not give me access to Muse.

And that distinction matters.

A Small UX Change Could Make a Big Difference

Imagine a different experience.

A visitor opens Muse.

Before requesting an email address, the website explains:

"Muse is currently available only in selected regions. Please check availability before registering."

The visitor selects their country.

If Muse is unavailable, the website offers an optional waitlist.

Only then does it request the information necessary for that specific purpose.

That would be a much clearer experience.

For me, the ideal order would be:

Check Availability → Explain the Purpose → Request Necessary Information → Obtain Consent → Continue

Of course, eligibility checks are not always simple. Location detection can be imperfect, and some restrictions depend on more than a user's current country.

But that is an engineering and design problem worth solving.

The central idea is simple:

Don't let users discover an important eligibility restriction only after they have invested time and disclosed personal information, if that restriction could reasonably have been communicated earlier.

What This Taught Me About AI Ethics

I am not a traditional software developer.

I am a self-learner who enjoys experimenting with AI, websites, data tools, and automation.

Through my DeTLeng projects, I have built AI-assisted learning tools, data dashboards, and automation workflows.

One thing these experiments have taught me is that software is not just about making something work.

It is also about the experience of the person using it.

A technically successful process can still create a disappointing human experience.

An automated workflow can complete every step and still fail to respect a user's expectations.

And a beautifully designed interface can still create confusion if important information arrives at the wrong time.

That is why I believe good AI products need more than intelligence.

They need transparency.

They need thoughtful design.

And they need to earn trust.

Trust should not be an afterthought in the user journey.

And What Happened to My Excited AI Adventure?

Well...

I did what any disappointed technology enthusiast with a long-standing AI friendship might do.

I ran straight back to ChatGPT! 😂

A few minutes earlier, I had been preparing to celebrate proving my AI assistant wrong.

Now I was explaining how the registration process had raised my hopes before ending with a regional restriction.

Quite a plot twist!

But after the disappointment came a useful idea.

Why not turn the experience into a story?

Not an angry attack.

Not an accusation.

Just an honest account of one user's experience, with a little humor and a serious question about how we design technology.

And that is how this article was born.

My Takeaway

I still find Muse interesting.

I still want to explore new AI agents.

And I will continue experimenting with technology.

But this experience reminded me of something important:

A product can be technologically impressive and still have room to improve the way it treats its users.

If we want people to trust AI systems, we need to think about the small moments too.

The registration forms.

The eligibility messages.

The permissions.

The explanations.

And the expectations we create along the way.

Because behind every email address and every form submission is a real person.

Sometimes an excited person.

Sometimes an impatient person.

And sometimes a 56-year-old AI enthusiast in Spain who just wanted to play with a new technology! 😄

Over to You, DEV Community

I'm curious about your perspective.

Should an AI service check regional availability before requesting personal information, or is it reasonable to complete account registration first?

How would you design this onboarding experience?

I'd genuinely love to learn from developers, UX designers, and privacy-minded engineers.

Keep learning. Keep questioning. Keep building.

— A self-learner turning everyday technology experiences into practical lessons.

DeTLeng: https://www.detleng.com/