Why is Mark Zuckerberg giving away AI for free after spending $40 billion?

Meta's Llama models are at the core of CEO Mark Zuckerberg's complete strategic pivot to go all-in on generative AI.

Transcript

00:00Mark Zuckerberg is making a $40 billion bet on AI, and Meta's LLAMA models, which are

00:05released freely to developers, are a big part of that strategy.

00:10But a lot of people are asking, why is Meta giving away its technology for free?

00:15Hi, I'm Sharon Goldman, AI reporter at Fortune.

00:19After a rocky period with the Metaverse that hurt Meta's stock, OpenAI released Chat GPT,

00:25and Meta also had to quickly catch up in generative AI.

00:28While Meta's competitors, like OpenAI and Anthropic, keep their AI models proprietary

00:34and under lock and key, Meta decided to release its LLAMA models as open source, meaning that

00:39they allow developers to use, modify, and build on those models.

00:44So far, the gamble seems to be paying off, Meta's stock has bounced back significantly

00:49this year.

00:50Maybe that's why Mark Zuckerberg himself seems to be having his own transformative

00:55glow up.

00:56Zuckerberg is betting that this transparency and collaboration will fuel faster innovation

01:01and position Meta as a key player in AI.

01:04It's also a challenge to the closed model favored by OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google,

01:10and Meta is seeking to disrupt the status quo.

01:12Meta's stock has bounced back to all-time highs this year thanks to the focus on generative

01:17AI and the integration of LLAMA across all Meta's platforms, including Facebook, Instagram,

01:23and WhatsApp.

01:24There are also risks to Meta's open source approach.

01:27Critics cite security issues and the potential for misuse of the technology.

01:32Still Meta's pivot to be all-in on generative AI and the confidence it's restored in investors,

01:37even though it does come at a high cost, signals that Mark Zuckerberg himself is all-in on

01:43this pivot to help lead the AI revolution.