In the early days of high-performance computing, major tech companies heavily invested in developing their own closed-source versions of Unix. At the time, it was hard to imagine any other approach producing such advanced software. However, open-source Linux eventually gained popularity. Initially, this was due to its flexibility and affordability, allowing developers to modify the code as they wished. Over time, Linux became more advanced, secure, and supported by a broader ecosystem than any closed Unix. Today, Linux is the industry standard foundation for cloud computing and the operating systems running most mobile devices, resulting in superior products for all.
All these facts are well known to experienced people in the tech industry and were cited by Mark Zuckerberg in his article ‘Open Source AI Is the Path Forward’ posted on Meta’s blog.
Open-source AI is rapidly closing the gap
According to Zuckerburg, AI is expected to develop in a similar manner. Currently, several tech companies are developing leading closed models. However, open-source AI is rapidly closing the gap. Last year, Llama 2 was comparable to an older generation of models. This year, Llama 3 is competitive with the most advanced modelsand leading in some areas. Starting next year, future Llama models are expected to become the most advanced in the industry. Even now, Llama leads in openness, modifiability, and cost efficiency.
Llama 3.1 405B, the first frontier-level open-source AI model
Significant steps are being taken toward making open-source AI the industry standard. Llama 3.1 405B, the first frontier-level open-source AI model, is being released along with new and improved Llama 3.1 70B and 8B models. These models offer significantly better cost/performance compared to closed models. The 405B model’s openness makes it ideal for fine-tuning and distilling smaller models.
In addition to releasing these models, there is collaboration with companies to grow the broader ecosystem. Amazon, Databricks, and NVIDIA are launching full suites of services to support developers in fine-tuning and distilling their models. Innovators like Groq have built low-latency, low-cost inference serving for the new models. The models will be available on major clouds, including AWS, Azure, Google, Oracle, and more. Companies like Scale.AI, Dell, and Deloitte are ready to help enterprises adopt Llama and train custom models with their data. As the community grows and more companies develop new services, Llama can collectively become the industry standard, bringing AI benefits to everyone.
“Meta is committed to open-source AI”
Mark Zuckerberg is claiming that Meta is committed to open-source AI. He even outlines why open source is the best development stack, why open sourcing Llama is beneficial for Meta, and why open-source AI is good for the world, ensuring long-term viability.
Why Open Source AI Is Good for Developers
Open source AI is beneficial for developers as it allows for customization of models to meet specific organizational needs without external oversight, provides independence from closed vendors ensuring control over models and flexibility, enhances data security by allowing models to run locally with transparent development processes, offers cost efficiency with models like Llama 3.1 405B running at approximately half the cost of closed models, and represents a promising future investment as open source technology is advancing rapidly and is expected to remain advantageous in the long term.
You can access the models now at llama.meta.com.
Photo: about.meta.com
An article from DevStyleR.IO