Short answer: Meta, the company behind Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, builds its own AI models. For years that family was called Llama, and you could download the weights and run them yourself. Since April 2026 Meta has been working on a new series called Muse. Some of it is open; some Meta keeps to itself.
Llama
- 24 February 2023: LLaMA, for research only, by application.
- 18 July 2023: Llama 2, free for research and commercial use, with Microsoft as preferred partner.
- 18 April 2024: Llama 3.
- 5 April 2025: Llama 4 (Scout and Maverick), which also handle images.
Llama comes under Meta's own licence, not a standard open-source one. One catch for European companies: under the Llama 4 acceptable use policy, the rights to the multimodal Llama 4 models are not granted to companies with their principal place of business in the EU. End users of a product that contains such a model are not affected.
The 2025 change of course
In June 2025 Meta set up Meta Superintelligence Labs, invested 14.3 billion dollars in Scale AI and brought in its CEO, Alexandr Wang, to lead AI. Its first model, code-named Avocado, was delayed and launched on 8 April 2026 as Muse Spark, a closed model that powers Meta AI.
The Muse family (October 2026)
- Muse Glimmer (10 August 2026): open, 30 billion parameters, Apache 2.0. Meta says it runs on a Mac or a PC with one consumer GPU.
- Muse Spark Open (15 October 2026): open weights, 816 billion parameters (42 billion active). Commercial use is allowed, including in your own product, if you display "Built with Muse Spark Open". A separate agreement is only needed for model-as-a-service businesses with more than 20 million dollars in revenue.
- Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full (12 October 2026): closed; according to Meta, its most capable models so far.
- Muse (8 September 2026): a personal AI agent app. At launch it was available in the US only.
Meta AI in Europe
Meta AI started rolling out in Europe in March 2025, beginning with a chat function in six European languages. Since 27 May 2025 Meta has trained its AI on public posts of adult EU users of Facebook and Instagram who did not object. The Dutch Data Protection Authority warned that data cannot simply be removed from a model once it is in.
What does this mean for your business?
- Don't paste customer data into Meta AI in WhatsApp. See AI and privacy.
- Muse Glimmer under Apache 2.0 is one of the most permissively licensed options for running AI on your own hardware. See Local AI models.
- Always read the licence; Llama 4 has a separate EU restriction.
- Don't plan around Muse yet: Meta gave no date for the Netherlands.
As of October 2026. Models, licences and availability change fast; check the current situation at the source.
Sources
- Meta: Introducing LLaMA (24 February 2023)
- Meta: Meta and Microsoft Introduce the Next Generation of Llama (18 July 2023)
- Meta: Introducing Meta Llama 3 (18 April 2024)
- Meta: The Llama 4 herd (5 April 2025)
- Meta: Llama 4 Community License Agreement
- Meta: Llama 4 Acceptable Use Policy (EU restriction on the multimodal models)
- Reuters: Meta deepens AI push with 'Superintelligence' lab (30 June 2025)
- Reuters: Meta's new AI team delivered first key models internally (21 January 2026)
- Reuters: Meta pushes AI model 'Avocado' rollout to May or later (12 March 2026)
- Axios: Meta debuts Muse Spark, first AI model under Alexandr Wang (8 April 2026)
- Meta: Introducing Muse Spark (8 April 2026)
- Meta: Introducing Muse Glimmer (10 August 2026)
- Hugging Face: Muse Glimmer 30B model card (Apache 2.0 licence)
- Meta: Introducing Muse Spark Open (15 October 2026)
- CNBC: Apple and Meta team up to make Muse AI model run on Mac computers (15 October 2026)
- Hugging Face: Muse Model License (Muse Spark Open)
- Meta: Introducing Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full (12 October 2026)
- Meta: Introducing Muse, personal AI agent (8 September 2026)
- Reuters: Meta launches AI agent that can access other apps (8 September 2026)
- AP News: Meta launches personal AI agent, Muse (8 September 2026, US only)
- Meta: Europe, Meet Your Newest Assistant: Meta AI (March 2025)
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: take action now if you don't want Meta AI to train on your data (Dutch)
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: last chance to object to Meta (Dutch)
- Autoriteit Persoonsgegevens: Take action now if you don't want Meta AI to train with your data (English)
Accessed 23 October 2026.