Meta Unveils AI Breakthrough: A Powerful Competitor to OpenAI’s ChatGPT

Meta is reportedly developing a new artificial intelligence (AI) model to compete with OpenAI’s ChatGPT. This comes shortly after the release of Meta’s large language model, Llama 2. According to the Wall Street Journal, Meta’s upcoming model is expected to rival the latest version of ChatGPT and is set to begin training in early 2024. The new model is anticipated to offer similar generative AI capabilities, but with additional parameters and robust training data.

In a departure from ChatGPT, Meta plans to make its proposed AI model open-source and freely available for companies to utilize in creating AI tools. Since the beginning of the year, Meta has been assembling a team of AI experts and is focused on developing its own infrastructure for training future AI models, moving away from its reliance on Microsoft’s Azure.

To bolster its capabilities, Meta has been acquiring Nvidia’s H100 chips, specifically designed for training large language models. While the extent of Meta’s chip purchases remains undisclosed, insiders suggest that the company may have made significant investments in acquiring the latest chips.

Despite these efforts, Meta faces fierce competition from industry leaders who have already established themselves in the AI development space. Playing catch-up to OpenAI and Google, Meta aims to bridge the gap with the release of its open-source LLM, Llama 2, which targets institutional and retail users through a free offering. Additionally, Meta has hinted at upcoming AI tools, including one that assists developers in generating and discussing code using text prompts.

Some insiders believe that Meta’s decision to support open-source AI systems is an attempt to regain ground in the AI landscape and present themselves as charitable and community-oriented. However, critics argue that open-source AI models pose risks in terms of misinformation and misuse due to their accessibility to a wide range of users.

Meta’s foray into AI has also faced legal challenges, with the company being involved in a class action lawsuit over the alleged illegal use of personal data to train its AI models. As regulatory authorities strengthen their oversight of emerging technologies, Meta’s future in the AI space remains uncertain.