Meta Launches Muse Spark AI Shopping Assistant Across Instagram and Facebook

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4.17.2026

Quick Facts

Meta’s Muse Spark AI model launches with shopping features that suggest outfits and home decor from creator content on Instagram and Facebook
The company plans to spend $115-135 billion on AI capital expenditures in 2026, nearly double last year’s investment
Emarketer projects Meta’s ad revenue will overtake Google’s for the first time in 2026, reaching $243.46 billion

Meta rolled out Muse Spark, its new proprietary AI model that powers shopping recommendations across Instagram and Facebook. The AI assistant launched April 8 on the Meta AI app and website, with broader rollout planned for WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, Messenger and Meta’s AI glasses in coming weeks.

The shopping feature pulls from creator content and brand storytelling already on Meta’s platforms. Users can ask the AI to suggest outfits, help style rooms or recommend gifts. The shopping experience appears in the search circle next to the ‘Search with Meta AI’ tab on Instagram’s explore page.

‘Shopping mode draws from the styling inspiration and brand storytelling already happening across our apps, surfacing ideas from the creators and communities people already follow,’ Meta said.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg described Muse Spark as ‘a world-class assistant and particularly strong in areas related to personal superintelligence like visual understanding, health, social content, shopping, games, and more.’

The launch comes as Meta makes massive AI investments. The company plans to spend $115-135 billion on AI capital expenditures in 2026, nearly double last year’s spending. In June 2025, Meta spent $14.3 billion to acquire a 49% stake in Scale AI and hired its CEO Alexandr Wang as Meta’s first chief AI officer.

Wang leads Meta’s new Superintelligence Labs unit. ‘Nine months ago we rebuilt our AI stack from scratch,’ Wang wrote on X Wednesday. ‘New infrastructure, new architecture, new data pipelines. Muse Spark is the result of that work.’

The shopping assistant represents a shift from product feeds to visual positioning and creator associations. Analysts at Mizuho Securities highlighted the monetization potential through search and ad targeting.

Meta’s move contrasts with its previous open-source approach. The company said it hopes to open-source future versions but is keeping Muse Spark proprietary after criticism of its Llama 4 model launch in April 2025.

Emarketer projects Meta’s global ad revenue will reach $243.46 billion in 2026, overtaking Google’s $239.54 billion for the first time. The global generative AI market is estimated to grow more than 40% annually, climbing from $22 billion in 2025 to almost $325 billion by 2033.