Meta is making Llama 2 free, taking the battle into the camps of rivals ChatGPT and Bard.

Mark Zuckerberg and Satya Nadella recently announced a partnership between Meta (NASDAQ: META) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) on Instagram. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has developed an AI system called Llama 2, which is a large language model similar to ChatGPT.

In a surprising move, Meta is making Llama 2 available for free (“open source”), allowing researchers and businesses to use it for research and commercial purposes. (Moneycontrol)

“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 Instagram picture captured Zuckerberg and Nadella in blue attire, symbolizing their collaboration. This partnership signifies Microsoft’s expansion into AI beyond its investment in OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

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. While Meta considers Microsoft its preferred partner, Llama 2 will also be accessible through Amazon Web Services and other platforms.

Previously, Meta introduced the first version of its model called LLaMA, but for its second version, it dropped the capital letters and named it Llama 2.

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