Meta has introduced Muse Wonder, its latest artificial intelligence (AI) model, positioning it as the company’s most advanced option for powering digital assistants. However, access to the model will come at a price, with users of Meta’s Muse personal agent app required to subscribe to plans costing $20 or $100 per month.
The launch highlights Meta’s efforts to develop new revenue streams from artificial intelligence beyond its core online advertising business. While the company has invested heavily in AI capabilities, paid subscriptions and developer services could help it monetise these technologies more directly.
According to Meta AI chief Alexandr Wang, Muse Wonder, internally codenamed Watermelon, has been designed to improve the performance of personal and professional AI agents, particularly when they encounter unexpected obstacles while completing tasks.
Credits: CNBC
Meta Focuses on Making AI Agents More Reliable
Speaking in an interview on Monday, Wang said the model was trained to handle setbacks and explore alternative approaches instead of stopping midway through a task and asking users what to do next.
For example, an AI agent tasked with booking a dinner reservation may encounter an unavailable time slot or other complications. Rather than abandoning the process, Muse Wonder is designed to attempt different approaches and continue working towards the user’s objective.
This capability could be important as AI agents move beyond answering questions to performing real-world activities on behalf of users. Tasks such as checking availability, managing communications and coordinating bookings require systems to respond dynamically when their initial plans fail.
Meta has also highlighted the model’s security capabilities. In a blog post, the company said Muse Wonder offers its strongest safeguards to date against cyber misuse. For now, these protections are available through the paid model rather than the free version of the Muse application.
Muse App Introduces Paid Access to Advanced AI
Meta’s Muse personal agent app gained significant attention after its introduction in September 2026, rising to the top of Apple’s App Store charts. The application remains free to download, with subscriptions providing access to higher usage limits and additional capabilities.
The introduction of Muse Wonder adds another layer to this pricing strategy, allowing Meta to charge users for access to its more advanced AI technology.
However, the company faces the challenge of ensuring that users understand how the agent operates, particularly when it interacts with personal information and communications.
Some users have alleged on social media that Muse accessed private messages without authorisation, a claim Meta has disputed. Wang said the company’s AI team has been monitoring incidents and other issues involving the application to identify problems and improve the product.
He also suggested that confusion could arise when users authorise certain communications or actions earlier in a conversation and later forget granting that permission. Meta is working to educate users about these interactions as it attempts to build trust in its AI agents.
Developers Get Access Through Meta’s AI Platforms
Muse Wonder will also be available to developers through Meta’s related Meta Model API. Wang said access to the API would cost more than standard subscriptions because the model is larger and operates at the frontier level of AI capabilities.
Nevertheless, he indicated that pricing would remain meaningfully below that of leading models from OpenAI and Anthropic. This could help Meta attract developers looking for advanced AI capabilities without paying the highest available rates.
The company is also offering a more powerful version, called Muse Wonder Full, exclusively through its Muse Code AI agent, which focuses on software engineering tasks.
Access to Muse Wonder Full will be included in subscription plans priced at $50 or $200 per month. The offering extends Meta’s strategy into AI-assisted coding, a market where companies are competing to help developers write, test and maintain software more efficiently.
Credits: CNET
Meta Looks Beyond Advertising for AI Revenue
Meta’s latest launch reflects a broader attempt to turn its AI investments into commercial products. Its advertising business remains central to its finances, but paid AI subscriptions and developer access fees could provide additional sources of income.
The strategy also places Meta in competition with companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic, which offer paid access to advanced models and specialised AI tools.
The success of Muse Wonder will depend on whether its improved task completion, security protections and practical capabilities convince users and developers to pay for access. Reliability and transparency will also be important as AI agents gain permission to interact with personal data and carry out actions on users’ behalf.
For Meta, the launch is more than a model upgrade. It is an attempt to establish a paid market for AI agents while addressing the reliability and trust issues that could determine whether consumers adopt these tools for everyday tasks.
