Credits By: Sociobits
Meta (NASDAQ: META) has announced the official launch of Llama 2, its generative artificial intelligence tool, in response to the increasing demand for its initial version released in February.
In a press release on July 18, Meta confirmed that Llama 2 would be open source and provided free to researchers and enterprises. The company also disclosed its collaboration with Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) for the rollout, revealing several integrations with existing Microsoft products.
According to the statement, Llama 2 will be available on Microsoft’s Azure AI model catalog. The tool has been optimized to run on Windows, a move aimed at bringing generative AI experiences to customers on various platforms.
“We’re now prepared to open source the next version of Llama 2 and offer it free of charge for research and commercial use,” the announcement read. “We are including model weights and starting code for the pre-trained model and conversational fine-tuned versions as well.”
Meta emphasized that its decision to make Llama 2 open-source aligns with its commitment to promoting safe AI usage. By allowing access to the AI model, it will undergo stress testing by multiple developers and researchers.
“For over a decade, Meta has placed exploratory research, open source, and collaboration with academic and industry partners at the core of our AI efforts. We have witnessed firsthand how innovation in the open can lead to technologies that benefit a wider audience,” Meta stated.
Transparency is a fundamental aspect of Llama 2’s offering to ensure safe AI use, and the company has conducted safety “red-teaming” for the model. Moreover, Meta has published transparency documents, a use policy, and a responsible use guide for the public.
Industry analysts have speculated that Meta’s commercial release of Llama 2 is a strategic move to compete with established players like OpenAI and Google (NASDAQ: GOOGL). While ChatGPT by OpenAI and Bard by Google have seen significant success, being closed-source offerings, Meta’s decision to make Llama 2 free and open-sourced is seen as a bid to gain a significant market share. Meta’s earlier release, Llama 1, received over 100,000 access requests from AI researchers worldwide in early 2023.
However, following the commercial release of Llama 2, Meta faced class-action lawsuits from comedian Sarah Silverman and two authors, accusing the company of infringing on their intellectual property rights. The plaintiffs argue that Meta used their copyrighted material to train its AI platform without obtaining permission. OpenAI was also listed as a defendant in a similar intellectual property violation case in California. Alongside copyright issues, AI development has garnered criticism for potential risks in various domains, including finance, Web3, health, news, and the election process.
