Meta is making a big push in the AI coding space with the release of Muse Spark 1.1, now available to US developers via a public API preview. This upgraded model is a significant leap from the first generation, boasting advanced bug detection and fixing, better support for end-to-end agentic workflows across multiple apps, and native multimodal perception—meaning it can understand images, videos, and documents, not just text. Meta positions this as a direct competitor to coding tools from OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, especially after restructuring and high-profile hires last year. The model is already live in Thinking mode on Meta AI apps and will power chatbots in Instagram, WhatsApp, and smart glasses. Developers get $20 in free credits when they sign up. Why it matters: By opening its API to developers, Meta is signaling it’s no longer just a social media company but a serious contender in the foundational AI model race, aiming to carve out a niche in the increasingly crowded developer tools market.