Meta releases Muse Wonder AI models to challenge Anthropic and OpenAI

Oct 12 (Reuters) - Meta on Monday launched Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, calling them its most capable AI models yet, as the social media firm looks to compete more forcefully with OpenAI and Anthropic.

Meta's shares rose about 4% in afternoon trading.

• The launch comes after CEO Mark Zuckerberg pledged billions of dollars and aggressively poached researchers over the past year to catch up in Silicon Valley's intensifying AI race

• Meta said Muse Wonder would soon power its Muse personal AI agent, initially for subscribers, while the more powerful Muse Wonder Full model is available to subscribers of its AI coding tool Muse Code

• "Fourteen months ago, we began an overhaul of our AI efforts, and in that time we've gone from rebuilding our foundations to pushing the frontier," Meta said in a blog post

• Meta's successful rollout of its personal AI agent Muse last month could open a lucrative path to turn its heavy AI investments into new revenue streams with subscriptions, despite facing concerns over user privacy

(Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Jonathan Ananda)