SAN FRANCISCO: Facebook owner Meta on Tuesday released a new and free-of-charge version of its artificial intelligence model, making a play against ChatGPT-maker OpenAI and Google.
OpenAI and Google have developed the impressive large language models that serve as the foundations of the ChatGPT and Bard chatbots, which have drawn excitement with their capabilities to mimic human creativity and expertise.
Meta meanwhile has avoided releasing generative AI products straight to the consumer, and instead developed Llama, a language model specifically developed for researchers so that they could perfect it.
Crucially, Llama is open-source, meaning that its inner workings are available to all to be tinkered with and modified, unlike the headline-grabbing AIs developed by OpenAI and Google.
Those models, including OpenAI’s world-leading GPT-4, are closed and propriety, with the clients that use them denied access to their programming code or detailed answers as to how their data is handled.
“Open source drives innovation because it enables many more developers to build with new technology,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post.
“It also improves safety and security because when software is open, more people can scrutinize it to identify and fix potential issues,” he added.
The stress on safety also underlines a divergence from OpenAI’s models, which have caused alarm by generating false information or by going off the rails in chatbot interactions.
The new, more powerful version of Meta’s model, called Llama 2, would be available to any business for download or through Microsoft’s Azure cloud service in a special partnership with the Windows maker.
The Microsoft tie-in comes on top of that company’s major partnership with OpenAI, signaling Microsoft is attempting to diversify its AI offerings with products that put businesses in more control of their data and software.
Microsoft, which has been the most aggressive big tech player to enter the AI market, saw its share price skyrocket on Tuesday when it said it would be charging $30 per user, per month for an AI-enhanced version of Microsoft 365, its office platform.
This would be a significant price hike for its business customers and could potentially lead to a vast increase in revenue for Microsoft if AI is seen as a necessary cost going forward.
Meta challenges OpenAI and Google with open-source AI
https://arab.news/nytkw
Meta challenges OpenAI and Google with open-source AI
- Open source to drive innovation, improve safety, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said
- More powerful Llama 2 version will be available to businesses through a partnership with Microsoft
Eurovision Sport, Camb.ai to provide live subtitling for Paralympic Winter Games
- Partnership aims to increase accessibility for all audiences
- Milano Cortina Games run from Friday to March 15
LONDON: Eurovision Sport, the European Broadcasting Union’s free-to-air streaming platform, will provide live and on-demand subtitling for coverage of the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games in partnership with AI language company Camb.ai
The service will run across all competition days, allowing viewers to stream all six Paralympic Winter Games sports on Eurovision Sport with real-time subtitles. The Games open on Friday and run through March 15.
Camb.ai will supply contextual speech-to-text transcription for both live and catch-up coverage, which the organizers said would support accessibility without altering the editorial integrity of broadcasts.
Eurovision Sport Managing Director Alan Fagan said the aim was to make the Games available to “the widest possible audience,” by scaling up digital accessibility across every event on the platform.
The initiative forms part of the EBU’s most extensive digital coverage of a Paralympic Winter Games to date and complements member broadcasters’ linear output.
It also reflects a wider industry push to make live sport easier to follow for viewers watching without sound, people with hearing impairments and audiences consuming content on demand.
Camb.ai’s Chief Technology Officer Akshat Prakash said the company was proud to deepen its partnership with Eurovision Sport, describing the platform as a leader in applying new technology to sports coverage.
The two organizations began working together in 2024, when they delivered what they described as Europe’s first AI-powered real-time translated sports commentary during European Athletics events.
