Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has announced the release of its latest large language model, LLaMa 2, for free use by companies and researchers. In what is a surprising development, Meta partnered with its fierce rival, Microsoft to create the AI chatbot. The decision comes as the company aims to compete with other tech giants and reclaim its position in the dynamic AI space. Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed the company’s collaboration with Microsoft to make LLaMa 2 accessible for both commercial and research purposes.
This announcement follows the earlier release of LLaMa 1 in February, which garnered significant attention from the AI community. However, Meta faced intense competition from generative AI tools, particularly the widely acclaimed ChatGPT, causing them to rethink their strategy.
The ‘Openness’ strategy
The company says its new model was built on a dataset from generally available sources, exclusive of data from the company’s services and products. It also pointed out that the data includes those retrieved from websites containing a large volume of personal data about private individuals.
Meta firmly believes that transparency and openness are crucial for advancing artificial intelligence technology responsibly. By making their AI models openly available, they aim to encourage researchers to identify and address biases in AI systems, enabling the technology to better emulate human communication patterns.
“We believe an open approach is the right one for the development of today’s AI models, especially in the generative space where the technology is rapidly advancing. By making AI models available openly, they can benefit everyone.”
Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg on LLaMa release
Users interested in leveraging LLaMa 2 can now access the model on Microsoft’s cloud platform, Azure. Apart from the collaboration with Microsoft, Meta has also made LLaMa 2 available through other platforms, including Web Services, Amazon, and Hugging Face. This multi-platform approach aims to expand accessibility and enable a broader range of developers and researchers to harness the power of the language model.
Interestingly, Microsoft is also a partner of the maker of ChatGPT. Meanwhile, models from both Google and Microsoft are open source. During an online event called Inspire, Microsoft announced that it would charge a monthly fee of $30 for its own generative AI tool, Microsoft-365 copilot. This separate charge sets it apart from other Microsoft services, showcasing the company’s commitment to advancing AI technology.
