Meta Ads Rolls Out Muse Image in Advantage+ Creative
On July 7, 2026, Meta officially unveiled Muse Image, its first proprietary image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs. In the coming weeks, it will start powering Advantage+ Creative, replacing the third-party AI models the tool previously ran on. For advertisers, this isn’t a cosmetic interface update: the generative engine itself is changing, the one that edits and enhances images in ads across millions of accounts.
Advantage+ Creative has been automatically altering the look of ads for several years now: adding music, expanding the frame, adjusting brightness, and even swapping out product backgrounds. Until July 2026, these features ran on third-party vendor models. Now Meta is moving this functionality onto its own technology, and according to the company, the rollout will happen gradually throughout the entire third quarter of 2026.
What happened
Muse Image can blend multiple photos into a single high-quality image, restore old and damaged photos (removing scratches, correcting color, sharpening faces), render text directly within the visual, and create stylistic variations of the same image. According to Meta’s description, the model uses “native reasoning”: before generating a result, it plans the frame’s composition and takes the context of the request into account, rather than simply rendering from a prompt.
Advertisers and agencies will get access to Muse Image through Advantage+ Creative “in the coming weeks”; Meta hasn’t given an exact date, and the rollout is staggered, meaning it happens gradually across accounts. Per the company’s July 7, 2026 announcement, more than 8 million advertisers already use Meta’s AI creative tools, and it’s this base the update is rolling out to.
Why it matters
Advantage+ Creative is a set of features, most of which are enabled by default unless you deliberately turn them off in the ad settings. Replacing the image-generation engine means that even campaigns you haven’t touched in months will soon start receiving differently generated creative variations, with different background quality, text, and composition than they had back in June 2026.
This matters especially for accounts that previously and deliberately disabled specific Advantage+ Creative enhancements due to poor generation results, such as an awkwardly swapped product background or unreadable text. That decision was made based on the old model, which no longer exists as of July 2026. This doesn’t mean you should automatically turn everything back on, but ignoring the update without checking is also a mistake.
How it works
| Before | Now | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Image generation in Advantage+ Creative ran on third-party AI models | As of July 2026, it runs on Meta’s own Muse Image model with “native reasoning” | Check when you last tested Advantage+ Creative in your account; if it was before July 2026, your conclusions are outdated |
| Background Generation and Text Extraction Optimization were test features limited to up to 5% of impressions, with no preview before launch | Status unchanged: the same two tools remain in testing, still with no preview before publishing | In sensitive niches (regulated products, premium brands), keep these two options manually disabled |
| Advertisers who had previously disabled Advantage+ Creative stayed on their old settings with no automatic reversion | Defaults for already-configured campaigns don’t change on their own | Schedule a new A/B test of the campaign with Advantage+ Creative on versus off |
Technically, there’s nothing to manually enable; the engine update happens on Meta’s side. But that’s exactly why it’s important not to rely on testing done months ago: today’s generation results can differ significantly from what you saw in the spring or early summer of 2026.
Who this applies to
The update will be felt most by e-commerce accounts with a large number of product SKUs, where manually preparing creative variations for every format isn’t realistic; that’s precisely where Advantage+ Creative removes the most routine work. For brands with strict visual style requirements (premium segment, regulated niches like medicine or finance), the update is more of a reason for caution: as long as Background Generation and Text Extraction Optimization run without a preview, the risk of getting a creative that doesn’t match brand guidelines remains.
Small accounts with a limited budget and few active ads will see less practical difference from the update, simply because there’s a smaller volume of creative for automatic generation to act on in the first place.
Editorial analysis
The Muse Image rollout in Advantage+ Creative has only just begun and hadn’t reached every account at the time this article was published; we haven’t yet tested the difference in our own client accounts and won’t pass off assumptions as verified results. At the same time, the underlying logic of Advantage+ Creative (automatic improvements on by default, with the option to disable individual ones) isn’t new, and there’s already accumulated practice working with it. We’ll update this piece with concrete observations once the rollout reaches enough accounts for comparison.
A practical example
Imagine an online store with a catalog of a few hundred products that disabled Background Generation back in spring 2026 because the model was poorly swapping backgrounds on some of its shoe photos. After moving to Muse Image, it makes sense to retest this exact feature on a small sample of products rather than leaving a six-month-old decision unchecked; the model that caused the problem has already been replaced.
By contrast, a service business that mostly uses ready-made photos of its team or office in ads, without generative background swaps, will feel the update much less: there, Advantage+ Creative’s main impact comes through text improvements and frame expansion, not through generating new image elements.
What to do right now
- Check in Ads Manager which Advantage+ Creative enhancements are currently enabled for active campaigns.
- If Background Generation or other generative features were disabled due to poor result quality, schedule a retest on a limited sample of ads.
- Keep Background Generation and Text Extraction Optimization manually disabled for products or brands where exact background appearance is critical.
- Save screenshots of your current creatives before the update, so you have something to compare against once Muse Image reaches your account.
- Don’t disable all Advantage+ Creative enhancements “just in case”; most of them (music, frame expansion, visual touch-ups) operate at a different, less risky level than full background generation.
Expert tip. Don’t rely on conclusions about Advantage+ Creative drawn before July 2026; the image generation engine is different now. Test with small batches of ads and compare against current CTR figures, not against months-old impressions.
Something to watch for. Background Generation and Text Extraction Optimization still publish without a preview; the ad goes live immediately after generation. For regulated niches or brands with strict visual requirements, this remains the primary risk even after the model swap.
FAQ
What is Muse Image in Meta Ads? It’s the first proprietary image generation model from Meta Superintelligence Labs, unveiled on July 7, 2026. Starting in July, it’s gradually replacing the third-party AI models the Advantage+ Creative tool previously ran on.
Do I need to manually enable anything to get Muse Image? No, the engine update happens automatically on Meta’s side, as it rolls out across accounts throughout the third quarter of 2026. No action is required from the advertiser.
Does this mean all Advantage+ Creative enhancements are now safer? Not equally across all features. Background Generation and Text Extraction Optimization remain test options with no preview before publishing, and that hasn’t changed with the model swap.
If I previously disabled Advantage+ Creative, will it turn back on automatically? No, the default settings of already-configured campaigns don’t change on their own. Retesting is a deliberate decision by the advertiser, not an automatic process.
Does the update affect all types of Meta Ads campaigns equally? It affects campaigns with a large volume of product creatives, where automatic image generation is heavily used, the most. Campaigns using ready-made photos with no generative background swaps will feel a much smaller impact.
Where can I check which Advantage+ Creative enhancements are currently active? In the settings of a specific ad in Meta Ads Manager, under the Advantage+ Creative section, where each enhancement can be toggled individually.
Conclusion
Replacing the generative engine in Advantage+ Creative is a platform-level change that doesn’t require any manual action from advertisers to activate, but it does call for a review of previous conclusions about automatic generation quality. The key practical step is not trusting six-month-old tests, and retesting key features, especially the ones that still publish without a preview.
If you’d like to figure out which Advantage+ Creative settings are worth keeping enabled in your Meta Ads account, let’s discuss it in an audit. More on working with the platform is on the Meta Ads page, an example of results is in our furniture e-commerce case study, and a channel comparison is in the article Google Ads, Meta Ads, or TikTok Ads: Which to Choose.