Meta mulls launch of commercial AI model - report
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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) plans to release a commercial version of its artificial intelligence (AI) model, which would enable start-ups and businesses to develop custom software on top of the technology, Financial Times.
The move will help the social media giant compete with Microsoft (MSFT)-backed OpenAI's ChatGPT, and Alphabet's (GOOG) (GOOGL) Bard, which have moved ahead in the race to develop generative AI.
Earlier today, Google launched Bard in Europe and Brazil and said that the AI tool can now be used in over 40 languages, and includes new features such as images in chat.
These Chatbot AI services â which can generate texts, images and code â are built on large language models, or LLMs, that are trained on massive amounts of data and require broad computing power.
Meta had released its own LLM called LLaMA, to researchers and academics earlier this year, but the new version will be more widely available and customisable by companies, the report noted citing three people with knowledge of the plans.
According to Meta its LLMs are 'open-source', which means that details of the new model will be released publicly. This is in different with the approach of rivals such as OpenAI, whose new model GPT-4 â wherein the data and code used to build the model are not available to third parties, the report added.
While the Facebook parent's technology is open source and currently free, the company is exploring charging enterprise customers for the ability to fine-tune the model to their requirement by using their own proprietary data, the report noted citing two people familiar with the matter.
Earlier this year, Meta set up a generative AI unit led by Chief Product Officer Chris Cox. Joelle Pineau, Meta's vice-president of AI research, had said that Cox's team took up the research side of AI but also product development, as it was "creating totally new businesses," according to the report.
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