Meta releases first new AI model since shaking up team

Meta on Wednesday released an artificial intelligence (AI) model, Muse Spark, which touts as smarter and faster than its previous offerings, shaking up its Superintelligence Labs unit.

"Over the last nine months, Meta Superintelligence Labs rebuilt our AI stack from the ground up," the tech titan said in a blog post.

Muse Spark succeeds Llama 4, released by the Silicon Valley-based firm a year ago, and will power Meta's AI app and smart glasses, along with features for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.

For now, Muse Spark is only available in the United States.

The new AI model was described as small and fast by design, capable of reasoning through complex questions in science, math, and health.

It is the first in a new Muse series, with the next generation already being developed.

Llama 4 lagged behind in the intense AI race as major competitors from China, France, and the United States released improved models at a rapid pace.

That prompted Meta's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, to overhaul its AI team, which led to the departure of its research boss Yann LeCun.

LeCun spent 12 years leading the AI lab at Meta, where Zuckerberg has made the quest for "superintelligence" a priority.

Zuckerberg launched a major recruitment drive last year to attract talent for Meta's initiatives, poaching Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang and appointing him as head of a new unit called Superintelligence Labs.

Zuckerberg later recruited executives from competitors OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google – often personally and at high costs.

In doing so, the tech tycoon abandoned the company's previous focus on developing free, open-access AI models like Llama.

"The future of Meta AI is rooted in the relationships and context already at the center of your life," the company said.

"We are building toward personal superintelligence – an AI that does not just answer your questions but truly understands your world because it is built on it."