Meta unveils Muse Spark, first AI model from superintelligence team

Superintelligence refers to AI machines that could outthink humans. Muse Spark is the first in a new series of models, known internally as Avocado, from that team

Meta Platforms on Wednesday unveiled Muse Spark, the first artificial intelligence (AI) model from a costly team it assembled last year to catch up with rivals in the AI race. Shares of the company extended gains to trade up nearly 7 per cent. US tech giants are under pressure to prove their massive AI outlays will pay off. The stakes are especially high for Meta after it hired Scale AI chief executive officer (CEO) Alex Wang last year under a $14.3 billion deal and offered some engineers pay packages of hundreds of millions of dollars to staff a new superintelligence team, a bid to propel itself back into the AI world’s top ranks after a disappointing showing with its Llama 4 models early last year. Superintelligence refers to AI machines that could outthink humans. Muse Spark is the first in a new series of models, known internally as Avocado, from that team. The model, the first the company has released in about a year, initially will be available only on the lightly used Meta AI app and website. In the coming weeks, it will replace the existing Llama models powering chatbots on WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and Meta’s collection of smart glasses, the company said. Meta did not disclose Muse Spark’s size, a key measure typically used to compare an AI system’s computing power with rivals. It also changed course from previous open releases of its Llama models, instead sharing only a “private preview” of Muse Spark with unnamed partners. “This initial model is small and fast by design, yet capable enough to reason through com- plex questions in science, math, and health. It is a powerful foun- dation, and the next generation is already in development,” the company said in a blog post. Independent evaluations of Muse Spark’s performance showed it catching up with top models from market leaders Google, OpenAI and Anthropic in some areas, like language and visual understanding, but lagging in others like coding and abstract reasoning. The model tied for fourth place on a broad index of AI tests compiled by evaluation firm Artificial Analysis. Rough edges Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had tempered expectations for early performance, telling investors in January that he thought the team’s first models “will be good but, more importantly, will show the rapid trajectory that we’re on.”