Meta on Tuesday released Muse Image, a new artificial intelligence model for creating images, as the company seeks to attract creators and advertisers. Originally codenamed Mango, the technology marks the second major release from Meta Superintelligence Labs led by Alexandr Wang, who oversaw the April unveiling of the Muse Spark large language model. Muse Image will be available for consumers to access for free via the Meta AI app and site, WhatsApp direct messages and Instagram Stories. Power users and creators must sign up for one of Meta’s new monthly subscription plans that debuted in May to create many AI-generated images and access certain features. Muse Image will also power advertiser-specific, image-generation tools as part of Meta’s AI-powered Advantage Plus service. Meta said it’s been working with businesses and advertisers as part of debuting Muse Image. The company also revealed internal benchmark tests showing Muse Image trailing OpenAI’s latest GPT Image 2 model but beating the Nano Banana 2 model in tasks like editing both single and multiple images. Meta said it plans to use its new AI model to reduce reliance on similar third-party technologies.