Meta announced in a blog post that its upcoming large-scale language model (LLM), called Llama 2, will be made available completely free for research and commercial purposes.

This is the second generation of Meta's LLM, a shift in strategy since the first one was only available to some scholars for research purposes only.

Llama 2 uses a complex algorithm trained on words and phrases scavenged from the open Internet and, according to Meta, has 40% more reliable data than Llama 1.

The new AI tool is available through Microsoft's cloud computing platform Azure, Hugging Face, and Amazon Web Services. There will also be an optimized version that runs on Windows software.

The decision to open source Llama 2 will have a major impact on the accelerating AI industry: both OpenAI's ChatGPT (in which Microsoft has invested billions of dollars) and Google's own Bard chatbot are free, but neither is open source are not open source. The underlying technology remains proprietary software, and anyone who wants to deploy it elsewhere will have to pay to use it.

However, Meta's decision to release the source code for Rama 2 means that any individual or company in the world will be able to download it, modify it to their own needs, and use it as part of their own AI inventions.

In a statement posted on Meta's website, Meta wrote "We believe that an open approach is appropriate for the development of today's AI models, especially those in the generative domain where technology is advancing rapidly. [Open access to today's AI models means that generations of developers and researchers, as a community, can stress test them, identify problems quickly, and solve them.

In another Facebook post, Mark Zuckerberg said, "Open source drives innovation. Because when software is open, more people can scrutinize it to identify and fix potential problems. I believe that as the ecosystem becomes more open, more progress will be made.

While open-sourcing a sophisticated model like Llama 2 has the potential to increase competition, there is also the risk that the technology will be abused. For example, criminals, hackers, and malicious actors could use open source software for malicious purposes, such as phishing or deep-faking, or to create their own powerful artificial intelligence tools.

Meta's introduction of Llama 2 could have a significant impact on the market share of both OpenAI and Google. If Llama 2 offers equal or better performance, users may be tempted to switch to Llama 2. Google Bard, while still in beta, is free to consumers. ChatGPT, on the other hand, has a premium tier called ChatGPT Plus, available for $20 per month.

Importantly, since Llama 2 is still under development, exact details and features are not yet known. Therefore, it is difficult to accurately predict its impact on the current model.