Meta (META.US) launches next-generation AI model Muse Wonder with a monthly fee of up to $200 to expand revenue channels other than advertising

The Zhitong Finance App learned that Meta (META.US) launched the latest artificial intelligence model Muse Wonder on Monday, and said it is currently the most advanced model used by the company to drive digital assistants. Unlike some of the AI features that were previously offered for free, users need a paid subscription to use Muse Wonder, which indicates that Meta is speeding up exploration of AI revenue sources outside of its core online advertising business.

According to reports, Muse Wonder will be provided to users through Muse, a personal AI application owned by Meta. The subscription fee is divided into two levels of $20 and $100 per month. The Muse app itself is still free to download and use, but users need a paid subscription to get higher usage limits and features related to the latest models.

Alexander Wang, chief AI officer of Meta, said in an interview on Monday that Muse Wonder's internal development code name is “Watermelon,” and its main goal is to improve the ability of individual and professional AI agents to handle realistic tasks, especially when they encounter unexpected situations during execution, to independently find alternatives rather than simply stop operations.

Wang, for example, said that AI agents may encounter various obstacles or unexpected problems when helping users make restaurant reservations and check reservation vacancies. Meta hopes that through training a new model, AI will be able to try other methods when it encounters difficulties and feedback progress to users when necessary. “When you perform real-world tasks, you always encounter obstacles, surprises, or setbacks of all kinds.” Wang said, “We have specially trained this model so that it can try other solutions, not stand still, and then ask users for help at any time.”

In addition to improving the ability to perform tasks, Meta also highlighted Muse Wonder's security improvements. The company said in its official blog that Muse Wonder is equipped with the strongest protection mechanism to date to reduce the risk of the model being used for malicious cyber activities. However, these latest security protections are currently only available with the paid model.

Notably, after Meta launched the Muse Personal AI App last month, the app quickly topped the Apple (AAPL.US) App Store rankings, reflecting that consumers are more excited about AI products that can perform tasks independently.

However, as AI agents gain greater autonomous operation capabilities, user privacy and security issues have also attracted attention. Earlier, some users complained on social media that the Muse agent had unauthorized access to personal messages, but Meta denied this.

Wang said that Meta's AI team has been monitoring related events and issues during Muse operation in order to better understand potential risks and resolve them in a timely manner.

He pointed out that in some cases, users may have authorized AI to access specific communication content early in the conversation, but then forgot this authorization. As a result, Meta is strengthening user education to help consumers better understand how the app operates and the authorization mechanism.

Wang said the company hopes to further build users' trust in Muse products through these measures. At the same time, Meta is also planning to expand the commercialization of Muse Wonder through services for developers. The company said that Muse Wonder will be open to paid developers through the Meta Model API, enabling them to integrate the latest models into their own applications and services.

Wang pointed out that since Muse Wonder is a larger AI model with cutting-edge capabilities, its API usage price will be higher than the standard subscription fee for ordinary consumers. However, Meta plans to keep its pricing significantly lower than the leading models of OpenAI and Anthropic to enhance competitiveness.

Additionally, Meta launched a more powerful version of Muse Wonder, Muse Wonder Full. This version will only be open to developers who subscribe to Muse Code. Muse Code is an AI programming agent launched by Meta for the software engineering field. The subscription fee is divided into two levels of $50 and $200 per month.

By launching different levels of AI subscription services for ordinary consumers, professional users, and software developers, Meta is trying to establish a more diversified AI business model.

Online advertising has long been a core source of revenue for Meta. As investment in AI technology continues to increase, the company is seeking to turn AI capabilities into direct revenue rather than just relying on AI to improve ad recommendation and delivery efficiency.

The launch of Muse Wonder and its more powerful version also means that Meta is further participating in the cutting-edge AI model and smart device market dominated by companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic.

However, as AI agents gradually shift from providing information to performing actual tasks autonomously, how to improve model capabilities while ensuring user privacy, operational safety, and service reliability will still be an important issue that Meta needs to solve in expanding its AI payment business.