Meta, the parent company of Facebook, is gearing up to release a commercial version of its artificial intelligence (AI) model, which will allow startups and businesses to develop custom software using this technology. Customized software is specifically tailored to meet the unique needs of an organization or user, as opposed to using pre-packaged software designed for the mass market.
Meta’s software is capable of generating text, images, and code, thanks to its large language models (LLMs) that are trained on massive amounts of data and require significant computing power. This move will put Meta in direct competition with Microsoft-backed OpenAI and Google, who are currently leading the generative AI market.
Earlier this year, Meta released its own language model, known as LLaMA, to researchers and academics. However, this new version will be more widely accessible and customizable by companies.
During a recent conference, Yann LeCun, Meta’s Vice President and Chief AI Scientist, expressed how this new innovation would revolutionize the field of AI. He stated, 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 actually as good as the ones that are not.
Meta has been involved in AI research and development for over a decade. However, OpenAI’s ChatGPT, a conversational chatbot released in November, seemingly put Meta on the back foot. This prompted other Big Tech players to launch similar AI products.
In an effort to disrupt the current dominance of OpenAI, Meta established a generative AI unit earlier this year, led by Chris Cox. Joelle Pineau, Meta’s Vice President, explained that Cox’s team straddles both the research and product development aspects, as they aim to create entirely new businesses using AI.
Open-source models offer the advantage of wider user adoption, as more data input allows the AI to enhance its capabilities. The more data a large language model has at its disposal, the more powerful it becomes.
Meta’s foray into the AI market signifies a significant development in the industry. With the impending release of their commercial AI model, they are poised to challenge the dominance enjoyed by OpenAI. This increased competition will undoubtedly drive advancements and innovation in the AI space, benefitting businesses and users alike.
