Meta has released Muse Spark 1.1, an upgraded version of its large language model, and is opening it to outside developers for the first time. According to The Verge, the company reentered the AI race in April with its first in-house Muse Spark model, and it now lets developers plug the new model into AI coding software through a new Meta Model API. The Verge reports that Muse Spark 1.1 is available to US developers as a public API preview, which Meta describes as a "step-change" from the first generation.
The update pushes Meta squarely into the AI coding market. CNBC reports that the release is an effort to chase rivals Anthropic and OpenAI, and Techzine Global frames Muse Spark 1.1 as narrowing the gap with both companies. Meta's AI chief Alexandr Wang told Axios that coding and so-called agentic tasks — where AI systems carry out multi-step work on their own — were key focuses of the update.
Pricing is central to Meta's pitch. According to Axios reporter Ina Fried, Muse Spark 1.1 costs $1.25 per million input tokens and $4.25 per million output tokens. Wang, per CNBC, called the pricing "very aggressive and attractive" compared with competitors. PYMNTS reports that Meta says the model, its first pay-to-use offering, outperforms Google.
Why it matters: AI coding assistants are one of the most lucrative and hotly contested corners of the industry, and Meta is using low prices to try to pull developers away from established leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic.