The New York TimesThe New York Times

In battle over AI, Meta decides to give away its crown jewels

By Cade Metz and Mike Isaac

18 May 2023 · 6 min read

Editor's Note

Google, OpenAI and Meta are all vying to lead the AI arms race. Meta is taking a different approach, believing that the smartest thing to do is share its technology with the world. The NYT reports.

SAN FRANCISCO — In February, Meta made an unusual move in the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence: It decided to give away its AI crown jewels.

The Silicon Valley giant, which owns Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp, had created an AI technology, called LLaMA, that can power online chatbots. But instead of keeping the technology to itself, Meta released the system’s underlying computer code into the wild. Academics, government researchers and others who gave their email address to Meta could download the code once the company had vetted the individual.

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