Meta's LlamaCon was all about undercutting OpenAI - BusinessGhana
On Tuesday, Meta held its first-ever AI developer conference, LlamaCon, at its Menlo Park, California, headquarters. The company announced the launch of a consumer-facing Meta AI chatbot app, which will compete with ChatGPT, as well as a developer-facing API for accessing Llama models in the cloud.
Focus on Undercutting OpenAI
Both releases aim to expand adoption of the company’s open Llama AI models, but that goal may be secondary to Meta’s true motive: beating OpenAI. Meta’s AI ambition is fueling a thriving open AI ecosystem that challenges "closed" AI providers like OpenAI, which gate their models behind services.
Meta’s AI chatbot app feels almost like a preemption of OpenAI’s rumored social network. It has a social feed where users can share their AI chats and offers personalized responses based on a user’s Meta app activity.
Challenging OpenAI's API Business
As for the Llama API, it’s a challenge to OpenAI’s API business. The Llama API is designed to make it simpler for developers to build apps that connect to Llama models in the cloud, using just a single line of code. It eliminates the need to rely on third-party cloud providers to run Llama models and allows Meta to offer a fuller array of tools for AI developers.
Meta vs. OpenAI Rivalry
Meta, like many AI companies, perceives OpenAI to be a top rival. Court filings in a case against Meta reveal that the company’s execs previously obsessed over beating OpenAI’s GPT-4. Undercutting proprietary AI model providers like OpenAI has long been core to Meta’s AI strategy.
Embracing Open Source Models
During an onstage conversation with Databricks CEO Ali Ghodsi, Zuckerberg mentioned that any AI lab making models openly available is considered an ally. Meta may also be trying to push its open models to satisfy a regulatory carveout.
The EU AI Act grants special privileges to companies that distribute “free and open source” AI systems. Meta often claims its Llama models are “open source,” despite disagreement on whether they meet the necessary criteria.
Regardless of the reason, Meta seems content to kick off AI launches that strengthen the open model ecosystem and limit OpenAI’s growth — sometimes at the expense of failing to deliver cutting-edge models itself.
