Meta is developing a new image and video model for a 2026 release, report says
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In Brief Posted: 8:05 AM PST · December 19, 2025 Image Credits:Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC Ivan Mehta Meta is developing a new image and video model for a 2026 release, report says It’s all hands on deck at Meta, as the company develops new AI models under its superintelligence lab led by Scale AI co-founder, Alexandr Wang. The company is now working on an image and video model codenamed “Mango” along with a new text-based model internally known as “Avocado,” The Wall Street Journal reported. The tech giant plans to release the new models in the first half of 2026, the publication said, citing an internal Q&A at Meta on Thursday, where Wang and chief product officer Chris Cox unveiled the new roadmap. Wang had said Meta aims to make the text-based model better at coding while also exploring new world models that understand visual information and can reason, plan, and act without needing to be trained on every possibility. Meta has more recently fallen behind its rivals, like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google, in the AI race. The company’s AI division saw significant restructurings this year, which included leadership changes and the poaching of researchers from other top companies. However, several of the researchers who joined Meta SuperIntelligence Labs (MSL) have already left the company. Last month, the company’s chief AI scientist, Yann Lecun, also announced that he’s leaving to create his own startup. Meta doesn’t have a winning AI product as of yet. Instead, Meta AI assistant’s numbers are buoyed by the company’s existing social networks spanning billions of users, since the company places the assistant in the search bar of its apps. This means the first projects and models coming out of MSL will have a lot riding on them. Topics AI, ai models, alexandr wang, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social Dates TBD Locations TBA Plan ahead for the 2026 StrictlyVC events. Hear straight-from-the-source candid insights in on-stage fireside sessions and meet the builders and backers shaping the industry. Join the waitlist to get first access to the lowest-priced tickets and important updates.
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