Mark Zuckerberg Takes Aim At Elon Musk, Sam Altman With Big AI Aspirations Through Meta's Latest Llama Model

Meta Platforms Inc META founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg decided in 2021 to invest billions of dollars into the metaverse and change the company's name from Facebook to Meta, aiming to dominate the augmented reality space.

Zuckerberg now set his sights on a different technological, futuristic landscape: artificial intelligence.

Since OpenAI, led by Sam Altman, released ChatGPT in late 2022, Wall Street has been enamored with AI and its potential to reshape various industries. So far, the clear winners have been chipmakers behind the hardware necessary to run AI programs, such as NVIDIA Corp NVDA, Super Micro Computer Inc SMCI, as well as other chip names.

But, soon after ChatGPT became the fastest website to garner one million users, mega-cap tech companies like Google's parent company Alphabet Inc GOOGGOOGL announced their own ambitious AI plans. The "AI arms race" has even brought in Tesla Inc TSLA CEO Elon Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI but who now operates xAI which just launched a supercomputer in Memphis using NVIDIA's chips.

See Also: Elon Musk’s xAI Flips The Switch On 100K Nvidia H100 GPUs Worth Up To $4B In Memphis Supercluster: ‘Most Powerful AI Training Cluster In The World’

Zuckerberg plans to take on Alphabet, OpenAI, xAI and any other AI company through Meta's “Llama” software. Llama's latest release, which debuted Tuesday, can solve complex math problems, write a book of text in a few moments and can even conjure images and scenes for users.

Llama's software is used to power “Meta AI” a chatbot currently available to users throughout Meta's suite of applications, including Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. And while a downturn in the tech industry caused Meta Platforms to undergo layoffs and cost-cutting measures in 2022, Zuckerberg says the company is now ready to deploy billions of dollars in training and developing its AI technology.

"I think that there's a meaningful chance that a lot of the companies are over-building now, and that you'll look back and you're like, ‘oh, we maybe all spent some number of billions of dollars more than we had to,'" Zuckerberg said in a recent Bloomberg interview. "On the flip side, I actually think all the companies that are investing are making a rational decision, because the downside of being behind is that you're out of position for like the most important technology for the next 10 to 15 years."

Zuckerberg also spoke about how Meta is training its Llama model, which entails utilizing user posts from Instagram and Facebook. The CEO also mentioned the importance of American tech companies innovating together on AI, or potentially allowing countries such as China to catch up with more advanced technology.

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