Meta unveiled a major update to its Muse Spark artificial intelligence model and offered pricing details.
AI chief Alexandr Wang characterized the pricing as “very aggressive and attractive” compared with similar offerings from labs like Anthropic and OpenAI.
Meta’s effort to diversify its business now includes requiring developers to pay to access its new AI model.

In this article

META-1.19 (-0.18%)

Follow your favorite stocks CREATE FREE ACCOUNT

Image 12: Alexandr Wang, chief AI officer of Meta, during the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 4, 2026. The event brings together the leading CEOs, investors and innovators who are harnessing technology to change the world around us. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Alexandr Wang, chief AI officer of Meta, during the Bloomberg Tech conference in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 4, 2026.

David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Three months after unveiling its first artificial intelligence model under the leadership of AI chief Alexandr Wang, Meta is rolling out a major update as it attempts to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in critical areas of the market.

Muse Spark 1.1, which Meta introduced on Thursday, represents its “strongest model for agentic and coding work yet,” Wang said in an interview with CNBC. The initial Muse Spark model released in April was only available to “select partners” who could access the technology via a “private API preview.”

Meta is making the new model’s API available through a developer portal as part of a public preview, where users will be able to sign up and see instructions for integration. A Meta spokesperson said some early partners can already access the API, and new users “will be able to add themselves to a waitlist and be added from there over time.” For now, Meta said it’s limiting API access to its own properties rather than making it available on third-party platforms like the popular OpenRouter marketplace.

“This is going to be served on top of the computer infrastructure that we’ve built,” Wang said.

It’s Meta’s second notable rollout for the Muse family this week. On Tuesday, Meta released Muse Image, originally code-named Mango, a model for creating images, as the company seeks to attract creators and advertisers to its offerings.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is coming under pressure from Wall Street to show a return on the company’s massive and growing investment in AI infrastructure and development. While it’s spending at the rate of its hyperscaler peers, Meta doesn’t have a cloud infrastructure business (though it plans to start one), and it’s failed to keep up with OpenAI, Anthropic and Google in developing popular models and AI applications.

Image 13: Zuckerberg says Meta's bets on reorganization 'haven't come to fruition'

watch now

VIDEO 3:02 03:02

Zuckerberg says Meta’s bets on reorganization ‘haven’t come to fruition’

Closing Bell

Wang characterized pricing of the Muse Spark update as “very aggressive and attractive” compared with similar offerings from labs like Anthropic and OpenAI. He said every new API account will start with $20 in free credits. From there, the company will charge $1.25 per million tokens in input, and $4.25 per million tokens of output, he said.

“The goal is to really have attractive pricing that scales with immense consumption usage,” Wang said.

He said Muse Spark 1.1 outperformed rival models in certain tasks involving the ability to interact with various third-party coding products and services.

Wang’s Meta Superintelligence Labs, or MSL, trained Muse Spark 1.1 to excel in coding-related tasks because that ultimately improves the capabilities of AI agents that can autonomously perform multiple tasks like a fleet of human interns, he said.

“You kind of have to build coding capabilities as part of that in service of overall agentic capabilities,” Wang said.

The tech industry’s excitement about AI agents took off in the first half of 2026, in part due to the sudden popularity of OpenClaw, which developers could use to manage AI models that power supercharged digital assistants. Wang said Meta trained Muse Spark 1.1 “to be able to work well with all of the most popular harnesses that developers use today, and we felt that was the best approach for this model given our goal to maximize adoption.”

Although Meta’s previous AI strategy emphasized releasing its earlier Llama family of models to the open-source community, the company is now focusing on selling access to proprietary AI models.

Wang said that Meta is still “committed to open source” and that his MSL unit has a “variant of Muse Spark that is in development that we do intend to open source.” He declined to say when the company would release it.

Wang added that he’s been “dog-fooding” the latest Muse Spark model, and is excited about the technology’s ability to be used as tool for improving personal health via tasks like searching the web, reading academic papers and accessing personal health-related data.

“It’s one of these use cases that I think really encapsulates the needs of these agentic systems,” Wang said of his AI and health experiments.

Wang said Meta is currently training a more powerful AI model, code-named Watermelon, but didn’t say when it would be released. Muse Spark’s code name was Avocado.

WATCH: One year into Meta Superintelligence Labs.

Image 14: One year in, big challenges ahead for Meta AI Chief Alexandr Wang

watch now

VIDEO 2:37 02:37

One year in, big challenges ahead for Meta AI Chief Alexandr Wang

Tech

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.

More In AI Age

The AI race is shifting from bigger models to cheaper, smarter systems

Deirdre Bosa

OpenAI power consolidates under co-founder Greg Brockman ahead of prospective IPO

Ashley Capoot

Palo Alto CEO Arora says AI pricing needs to fall 90% as token costs skyrocket

Samantha Subin

Got a confidential news tip? We want to hear from you.

Get In Touch
* #### CNBC Newsletters

Advertise With Us

Please Contact Us

Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes. Global Business and Financial News, Stock Quotes, and Market Data and Analysis.

Market Data Terms of Use and Disclaimers
Data also provided by

This site is now part of Versant. By continuing, you agree to our Terms. You also acknowledge that our updated Privacy Policy applies, including your existing data. For info on your data rights, click “Your Privacy Choices” or see “Your Rights” in our Privacy Policy.

We and our partners also use tools on this site to provide the services, personalize your experience, and for analytics, marketing, and advertising. If you previously opted out of selling, sharing, or targeted advertising on this site, you will need to update your Privacy Choice.

Your Privacy Choices Continue

Image 25: Company Logo

Residents (or authorized agents) of states listed in the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy: You are opted out of targeted advertising, selling, or sharing, occurring on this site, for this browser and device. We received your election through our toggle or a universal opt-out preference signal. You can change your choice any time.

You should also provide the information requested in this Opt-Out Form, which will enable us to take action on your opt-out election more broadly than just this site (e.g., we will be able to stop sharing your email with third parties in order to target you with adverting on other sites and services, like social media platforms, such as social media platforms).

Residents (or authorized agents) of states not listed in the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy: If we do not detect that you are in one of the states listed in the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy, we cannot ensure that we will be able to apply your opt out choice, even if you utilize the toggle or we receive your election through your universal opt-out preference signal.

Notice of Right to Opt-Out of Sale/Sharing and Targeted Advertising

We may collect personal data from and about you through this site for “targeted advertising,” “selling,” or “sharing,” as defined by applicable privacy laws. Some states provide residents (or their authorized agents) with the right to opt out of these practices. See the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy for more info.

If you reside in one of these states (or are an authorized agent) you can opt out of targeted advertising, selling, or sharing, occurring on this site by moving the toggle below to the left and clicking “Confirm My Choice.” Your choice through the toggle is specific to this site. If you access other Versant sites and services, you will need to opt out for each. Also, if you clear your cookies on this browser or use another browser or device, you will need to opt out again. You can change your choice any time.

In addition to the toggle, you should also provide the information requested in our “Opt-Out Form” (accessible by clicking the “+” below), which will enable us to take action on your opt-out election more broadly than just on this site (e.g., we will be able to stop sharing your email with third parties in order to target you with adverting on other site and services, such as social media platforms).

You may also enable where available and provided for under applicable privacy laws, a universal tool that automatically communicates your opt out preference, such as the Global Privacy Control (“GPC”). If detected, we will process your GPC signal as if you had opted out through the toggle.

If you opt-out, you may continue to see advertising, including ads that may be based on personal information processed before you opted out.

Manage Opt-Out Preferences: Move Toggle to Left and Click “Confirm My Choice” and then Complete Opt-Out Form (accessible by clicking “+” below)

Allow Sale of My Personal Info and Sharing/Processing for Targeted Ads

[x] Allow Sale of My Personal Info and Sharing/Processing for Targeted Ads

Residents (or authorized agents) of states listed in the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy: To opt out of targeted advertising, selling, or sharing occurring on this site for this browser and device, move the toggle to the left and click “Confirm My Choice.”

Residents (or authorized agents) of states not listed in the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy: If we do not detect that you are in one of the states listed in the “Your Rights” section of our Privacy Policy, we cannot ensure that we will be able to apply your opt out choice, even if you utilize the toggle.

Please note, your choice through the toggle is specific to this site, for this browser and device. If you access other Versant sites and services, you will need to opt out for each. Also, if you clear your cookies on this browser or use another browser or device, you will need to opt out again. You can change your choice any time.

If you opt-out, you may continue to see advertising, including ads that may be based on personal data processed before you opted out.

Opt-Out Form

Always Active

You should also provide the info requested in this Opt-Out Form, which will enable us to take action on your opt-out election more broadly than just this site (e.g., we will be able to stop sharing your email with third parties in order to target you with adverting on other sites and services, such as social media platforms).

Cookie List

Clear

- [x] checkbox label label

Apply Cancel

Consent Leg.Interest

[x] checkbox label label
[x] checkbox label label
[x] checkbox label label

Confirm My Choice

Meta jumps into AI coding market in effort to chase Anthropic and OpenAI