Meta has unveiled the latest version of its artificial intelligence models and said it would be made open-source.
Chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said the company would release Llama 3.1 405B as the first “frontier-level” open-source AI model, along with the upgraded Llama 3.1 70B and 8B models.
Meta say the new 405B model has “state of the art” capabilities, with flexibility and control that compares to the best closed-source models. Executives say that the model, which is primarily used to power chatbots both within Meta and by outside developers, has a wide range of new capabilities, including improved reasoning to help solve complex maths problems or instantly synthesise an entire book of text.
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The text-only model will be available in the EU, Meta said. The models are multilingual and have been extensively tested.
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“This year, Llama 3 is competitive with the most advanced models and leading in some areas,” said Mr Zuckerberg. “Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry.”
The decision to offer the technology as a open-source product may raise more than a few eyebrows. Critics of Meta’s open-source approach to AI point to the potential for abuse – or the fear that tech companies from geopolitical rivals like China will piggyback off Meta’s technology to keep pace with their American counterparts.
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But Mr Zuckerberg said offering it as open source would encourage ecosystems to grow around Llama,
He said open source was necessary for a positive AI future and would ensure access to the benefits and opportunities of AI, without concentrating power in the hands of a small number of companies.
“There is an ongoing debate about the safety of open-source AI models, and my view is that open-source AI will be safer than the alternatives. I think governments will conclude it’s in their interest to support open source because it will make the world more prosperous and safer,” he said.
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“At some point in the future, individual bad actors may be able to use the intelligence of AI models to fabricate entirely new harms from the information available on the internet. At this point, the balance of power will be critical to AI safety. I think it will be better to live in a world where AI is widely deployed so that larger actors can check the power of smaller bad actors.”
Mr Zuckerberg has been under pressure to keep up in the fast-moving AI race with Silicon Valley groups such as OpenAI, Microsoft and Google, boosting investment in the technology and infrastructure required to support his plans. – Additional reporting: Bloomberg
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