Meta is poised to release a commercial version of its artificial intelligence model, allowing start-ups and businesses to build custom software on top of the technology.
The move will allow Meta to compete with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google, surging ahead in the race to develop generative AI. The software, which can create text, images, and code, is powered by large language models (LLMs) trained on massive amounts of data and require vast computing power.
Meta released its language model, LLaMA, to researchers and academics earlier this year.
Still, the new version will be more widely available and customizable by companies, three people familiar with the plans said. The release is expected imminently, one of the people said.
Meta says its LLMs are “open-source,” meaning the new model's details will be released publicly.
This contrasts with competitors' approach, such as OpenAI, whose latest model, GPT-4 is a so-called black box in which the data and code used to build the model are not available to third parties.
“The competitive landscape of AI is going to completely change in the coming months, in the coming weeks maybe, when there will be open source platforms that are as good as the ones that are not,” vice-president and chief AI scientist at Meta, Yann LeCun, said at a conference in Aix-en-Provence last Saturday.
Meta’s impending release comes as a race among Silicon Valley tech groups to establish themselves as dominant AI participants is heating up.
Writing in the Financial Times this week, Meta’s global affairs chief Nick Clegg extolled the virtues of an open source approach, saying, “openness is the best antidote to the fears surrounding AI.” But the move also helps Meta in its attempts to catch up with rivals, as an open model would allow companies of all sizes to improve the technology and build applications on it.
Meta has been working on AI research and development for more than…