Meta launches free Llama 2, is it better than ChatGPT and Google’s Bard?

Facebook parent company Meta has introduced a free for all artificial intelligence large language model (LLM) named LLaMA 2.

LLaMA 2 is an open-source LLM meant to challenge the likes of Bard and ChatGPT which come with certain restrictions.

Meta is introducing LLama 2 and releasing the source code and data behind it to enable developers and researchers worldwide to build on it in order to make improvements.

We know that ChatGPT has fast dominated the AI language model space since its inception last November.

Competitors have indicated their pace by launching their own versions.

Earlier this year we saw the launch of Google’s Bard, a conversation-generative AI chatbot developed by Google as an alternative to ChatGPT, based on LaMDA language models.

Meta made an attempt by also introducing its very own LLaMA with restricted access.  Researchers had access probably with the goal to farm solutions.

Meta is back with LLaMA 2, free to anyone, and intended to build commercial products.

In their statement, Meta says:  “We believe an open approach is the right one for the development of today’s AI models, especially those in the generative space where the technology is rapidly advancing. By making AI models available openly, they can benefit everyone. Giving businesses, startups, entrepreneurs, and researchers access to tools developed at a scale that would be challenging to build themselves, backed by computing power they might not otherwise access, will open up a world of opportunities for them to experiment, innovate in exciting ways, and ultimately benefit from economically and socially.

And we believe it’s safer. Opening access to today’s AI models means a generation of developers and researchers can stress test them, identifying and solving problems fast, as a community. By seeing how these tools are used by others, our own teams can learn from them, improve those tools, and fix vulnerabilities. Meta has put exploratory research, open source, and collaboration with academic and industry partners at the heart of our AI efforts for over a decade. We’ve seen first-hand how innovation in the open can lead to technologies that benefit more people. Dozens of large language models have already been released and are driving progress by developers and researchers. They’re being used by businesses as core ingredients for new generative AI-powered experiences. We’ve been blown away by the huge demand for Llama 1 from researchers — with more than 100,000 requests for access to the large language model — and the amazing things they’ve achieved by building on top of it.”

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