Apple and Meta Bridge Rivalry to Launch Muse Spark Open on Mac Studio

Key points

• Muse Spark Open is an 816-billion-parameter model using a mixture-of-experts architecture, designed for coding and agentic tasks.
• The model requires two to four Mac Studio computers with M5 Ultra chips and up to 512GB of memory to run locally.
• Apple and Meta have not had a public partnership since 2017, following a long-standing dispute over privacy and app store policies.
• The collaboration was facilitated by Daniel Gross, a former Apple director who joined Meta's AI team last year.
• Meta released the model weights under a license allowing limited commercial use, with free access for many developers.

Background

This collaboration follows Meta's recent pivot toward proprietary models like Muse Wonder, released in October 2026, and Apple's ongoing efforts to integrate third-party AI models into its ecosystem after its own Siri updates faced criticism. The partnership also occurs amid broader tensions in the AI industry regarding open-source models and competition with Chinese firms.

How outlets are covering it

CNBC and the Financial Times both highlight the historic nature of the Apple-Meta partnership, noting the shift from rivalry to cooperation under new leadership. CNBC emphasizes the hardware requirements and cost, while the Financial Times focuses on the strategic implications for Apple's AI hardware sales. Meta's official release details the technical specifications and availability of the model weights, whereas CNBC and the Financial Times provide more context on the corporate relationship and market dynamics. All sources agree on the model's capabilities and the local processing advantage.

Why it matters

The collaboration signals a potential shift in Silicon Valley alliances, with major tech companies cooperating on AI despite historical conflicts. It also highlights the growing importance of local AI processing for privacy and cost efficiency, challenging cloud-based models from competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic.

What to watch

Developers can download Muse Spark Open from platforms like Hugging Face and run it on Mac Studio computers. Apple and Meta may explore further collaborations, and the success of this model could influence the adoption of local AI solutions in the market.