Meta Platforms today unveiled Muse Wonder, a new artificial intelligence model designed to power digital assistants, placing its capabilities behind paid subscriptions as the Facebook parent seeks to generate revenue from AI beyond its core advertising business.
Users of Meta’s Muse personal agent app will need to subscribe to plans costing $20 or $100 a month to access the model, while developers will be able to use it through the company’s Meta Model API at higher prices, Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang said.
The launch comes as technology companies seek to turn heavy investment in AI models and computing infrastructure into recurring revenue, testing whether consumers and businesses will pay for more capable AI assistants rather than rely on free services.
Meta said Muse Wonder, internally codenamed Watermelon, was designed to improve the ability of personal and professional AI agents to complete tasks that require multiple steps, including arranging restaurant bookings and checking availability.
“When you do real-world tasks, you’re going to get roadblocks and you’re going to get things that come up or various setbacks,” Wang said. “We specifically tried to train the model to be able to try other approaches instead of stalling and then checking back in with the user at any time.”
The model also includes enhanced protections against cyber misuse, Meta said in a blog post, describing them as the company’s “strongest safeguards to date”. The protections are available only through the paid model for now.
Meta introduced its Muse AI agent app last month, and it quickly rose to the top of Apple’s App Store. The app is free to download, with paid subscriptions offering access to additional usage and capabilities.
The company is also seeking to address concerns about how AI agents handle personal information and communications. Some users have alleged on social media that Muse accessed private messages without authorisation, claims Meta has disputed.
Wang said the company’s AI team was monitoring agent-related “incidents or issues” to identify problems and improve the product.
“I think there are certainly instances users have authorized various communications or whatnot earlier in a conversation, and then may have forgotten about that,” Wang noted. He added that Meta was educating users “to ensure that consumers can trust the product going forward.”
The trust issue is becoming increasingly important as AI agents move beyond generating text and images to interacting with digital services and carrying out tasks on users’ behalf. Such systems can require access to personal accounts, messages and other sensitive information, raising questions about consent, security and accountability.
Developers will be able to access Muse Wonder through Meta’s Model API, with Wang saying the pricing would be higher than consumer subscriptions because it is a “much larger model and at frontier level.” He said it would nevertheless be priced “meaningfully below” leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic.
A more powerful version, Muse Wonder Full, will be available only to developers using Meta’s Muse Code AI agent for software engineering, through subscriptions costing $50 or $200 a month.
Meta’s push to monetise AI comes as it continues to rely heavily on advertising revenue generated by its Facebook, Instagram and other platforms. Paid AI subscriptions and developer access could provide additional revenue streams, although the company has not disclosed expected sales or subscriber targets for the Muse products.
The launch also places Meta in competition with companies including OpenAI and Anthropic, which sell subscriptions to advanced AI models and tools for developers.
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Faustine Ngila is the AI Editor at Impact Newswire, based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is an award-winning journalist specializing in artificial intelligence, blockchain, and emerging technologies.
He previously worked as a global technology reporter at Quartz in New York and Digital Frontier in London, where he covered innovation, startups, and the global digital economy.
With years of experience reporting on cutting-edge technologies, Faustine focuses on AI developments, industry trends, and the impact of technology on society.
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