Meta has released a new AI model that can be run on personal computers, as CEO Mark Zuckerberg says that advanced artificial intelligence should not be controlled by a handful of companies or governments.
Muse Glimmer, the model, is being released in an open-weight approach, allowing developers to access and work with its model weights. Meta is also preparing to roll its more powerful Muse Spark 1.2 model out to developers more widely. Glimmer is described in reports as a model for smaller, agentic tasks on personal devices.
The release came with a long essay from Zuckerberg called “The Future is for Everyone", in which the Meta CEO described his vision for a more advanced and capable AI.
Zuckerberg argued that having advanced AI capabilities concentrated in the hands of a few companies, institutions or governments could create an unhealthy balance of power.
“If AI superintelligence ends up in the hands of a few individuals, companies, governments or even AI itself,” he wrote, “then that will naturally lead to worse outcomes for everyone else.”
The alternative he envisions is broader access to sophisticated artificial intelligence (AI) systems, including what he refers to as personal “superintelligence” that could be employed by individuals instead of being mostly controlled by large institutions.
The argument reflects Meta’s long-standing practice of releasing AI models with fewer restrictions than competitors that keep their most capable systems proprietary. Meta’s current Muse lineup includes Muse Spark, the strongest available model at the time, which was launched in April by Meta through Meta AI and its website.
Zuckerberg also argued that open development of AI could help prevent a concentration of technological and economic power.
"Most other labs are doing work on building AI for companies, governments or other institutions," he wrote. “So if those labs take the lead, then the balance of power will shift away from individuals to larger institutions.”
He didn’t name specific rivals in that passage, but the comments come as Meta competes with companies such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google to develop increasingly capable artificial intelligence systems.
The debate also has a geopolitical aspect. The US and its allies need to speed up the supply of energy and the infrastructure required to support the development of AI and keep up with China, Zuckerberg said. He also pressed policymakers to re-examine restrictions on AI distillation, a technique in which developers use the outputs of a more capable model to help train another model.
This has become an especially contentious issue in the U.S.-China AI competition. U.S. officials fear that Chinese firms could use techniques such as distillation to copy capabilities from more advanced artificial intelligence systems, and companies have debated how such practices should be regulated.
Zuckerberg was more forgiving.
“Some have tried to portray distillation as harmful,” he wrote, suggesting people should be able to learn from things that they can see. He said that too many restrictions could make it harder for the United States to compete internationally.
Meta’s stance places it at the heart of a larger conversation about the development and distribution of advanced AI. Proponents of open-weight models say wider access can spur innovation, reduce costs, and give developers more control over A.I. systems. Critics have expressed concern about safety, misuse and the challenge of controlling powerful models after their weights are widely distributed.
The strategy is also a competitive bet for Meta: instead of focusing solely on closed AI platforms, the company wants to have a hand in the broader ecosystem by providing capable models to developers while still building more advanced systems of its own.
The immediate value of Muse Glimmer will depend on the extent to which developers adopt it and how well it performs compared to competing models. But Meta’s bigger strategy is clear. Zuckerberg wants the next stage of AI development to be more widely distributed, rather than centralised in the hands of a few institutions.
