Meta's New AI Model Rivals GPT-5.5, Boosting Competition
WHO:
Business Insider - Alexandr Wang, Meta's superintelligence chief, is leading the AI model development at Meta.
Business Insider - Mark Zuckerberg is pushing for Meta to advance in the AI race.
WHAT:
Techmeme - Meta's upcoming AI model, codenamed Watermelon, is currently in training and matches OpenAI's GPT-5.5.
Business Insider - Watermelon uses "an order of magnitude more compute than Avocado," according to Wang.
Business Insider - Meta is expected to release an update to its current model, Muse Spark, soon, with improvements in coding and agentic capabilities.
Business Insider - Meta plans to spend between $125 billion and $145 billion this year on chips, data centers, and other infrastructure.
WHERE:
Business Insider - The information was shared during an internal town hall at Meta.
WHEN:
Business Insider - The first in a series of models called Muse Spark was released in April of the current year.
Business Insider - OpenAI released GPT-5.5 in April of the current year and debuted GPT-5.6 late last month.
WHY:
Business Insider - Meta's AI ambitions focus on closing the gap with competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.
Business Insider - The company is investing heavily in infrastructure and talent to enhance its AI capabilities.
HOW:
Business Insider - Meta is offering top AI talent hundreds of millions of dollars to join its team.
Business Insider - Wang oversees a team of elite AI researchers known as TBD and is involved in a recent hardware push.
(UPDATED July 3, 2026 06:15 UTC)
Meta is ramping up its efforts in the AI race, with Alexandr Wang, the company's superintelligence chief, leading the development of a new AI model codenamed Watermelon, which is currently in training and matches OpenAI's GPT-5.5. The company is expected to release an update to its existing model, Muse Spark, soon, while also planning to invest between $125 billion and $145 billion this year on chips, data centers, and other infrastructure to bolster its AI capabilities. Wang's team, known as TBD, is attracting top AI talent with offers of hundreds of millions of dollars, as Meta aims to close the gap with competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic.