Meta's New AI Can Code and Research, But It'll Cost You

Meta just released its most advanced AI models yet, called Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full. These aren't your average chatbots—they're designed to act as AI agents that can write code, analyze documents, and even do financial research. After 14 months of rebuilding its AI team, Meta is trying to catch up to OpenAI and Anthropic. Early tests show Muse Wonder Full ties with Anthropic's Claude Sonnet 5.5 on one intelligence ranking, so Meta is now a serious contender.

For everyday people, this means more powerful AI tools could soon be available in Meta's apps. But there's a catch: the best model, Muse Wonder Full, is locked behind a subscription that costs $50 to $200 per month, and it's not available for public download. The cheaper model, Muse Wonder, costs developers $4 per million input words and $20 per million output words—that's like paying for a very smart assistant by the word. If you're a business, this gives you another option to automate coding and research, but you'll need to calculate the total cost based on how much the AI has to think and redo tasks.

Privacy is a big concern. Meta says its models protect private information, but reports show that Muse Code subscriptions default to a 'Contributor mode' that lets Meta use your submitted content to improve future models. You can turn this off, but many people might not realize it's on. The standard API doesn't use your data for training, so developers have a safer option. For now, consumers will have to wait until Muse Wonder comes to Meta's personal AI app, which will initially be for subscribers only.