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Meta has published a new study, in partnership with The Linux Foundation, which underlines the economic benefits of open source AI models, and how more businesses are adopting its open source AI tools to maximize efficiency.
The study indicates that two-thirds of organizations believe that open source AI is cheaper to deploy than proprietary models, and nearly half of those organizations cite cost savings as a reason for choosing open source AI.
As per Meta:
“The immediate economic benefits of open source AI - used in some form by almost nine out of ten (89%) organizations that leverage AI - are key to its appeal. The findings in this report make it clear: open source AI is a catalyst for economic growth and opportunity. As adoption scales across sectors, we’re seeing measurable cost savings, increased productivity and rising demand for AI-related skills that can boost wages and career prospects.”
So Meta’s basically saying that its decision to open source its Llama AI models is a good one for all businesses, because it saves them from having to invest so much in their own AI models and tools, while still enabling them to latch onto the AI shift.
Which makes sense. AI development takes a lot of time and resources, and few, if any companies can match the resources that Meta has in this respect.
But what’s Meta’s end goal here, and why is it so keen to give away its AI code and secrets, giving up, potentially, a significant market advantage?
Well, the real play for Meta is AI dominance, and building the systems that contribute to the broader infrastructure of the AI shift. Meta sees AI as being a transformative element, and the more that it can ensure that its systems are being used to power that change, the better Meta will be placed to capitalize on the longer term expansion of AI tools.
Eventually, Meta’s hoping that its Llama models will become the backbone of the broader AI industry, which will better place Meta as the key provider on the AI front, beating out OpenAI, Google, and various others to lead the race.
So it’s not some altruistic venture here, Meta does have a broader business stake in driving adoption of its open source models. But it does makes sense, in that AI development is too costly for many organizations, but also too significant to ignore.
The benefits in his respect are clear, and Meta’s AI models will provide development efficiencies.
But should you put your trust in Meta’s systems, a company that has a history of drastically changing its parameters to align with its own business goals, regardless of periphery impacts?