Meta Platforms Inc is releasing a new large language model based on artificial intelligence (AI) aimed at the research community, chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post on Friday, becoming the latest company to join the AI race.
The battle to dominate the AI technology space, which until recently existed more in the background, kicked off late last year with the launch of Microsoft-backed OpenAI’s ChatGPT prompted tech heavyweights from Alphabet Inc to China’s Baidu Inc to create their own offerings.
Large language models have shown promise in generating text and conversations, summarizing written material, and in performing complicated tasks like solving math theorems or predicting protein structures, Zuckerberg said.
Meta will make its model available to the AI research community, he added.
AI has emerged as a bright spot for investments in the tech industry, whose slowing growth has led to widespread layoffs and a cutback on experimental bets.
Meta layoffs
Facebook-parent Meta Platforms is planning a fresh round of layoffs in a reorganisation and downsizing effort that could affect thousands of workers, the Washington Post reported on Wednesday.
Last year, the social media giant said it will let go of 13% of its workforce, or more than 11,000 employees, as it grappled with soaring costs and a weak advertising market.
Meta plans to push some leaders into lower-level roles without direct reports, flattening the layers of management between top boss Mark Zuckerberg and the company’s interns, the Washington Post reported, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Other managers may end up overseeing a higher number of employees as their teams grow bigger.
The company is also considering more traditional cuts, including slashing some projects and jobs. These efforts, which are targeted at divisions across the company and around the world, may not happen on a single day, but will likely roll out across the company in the coming months, the Washington Post report added.
Meta’s business, which relies on advertising, has been hit particularly hard by a steady stream of economic challenges.