Mark Zuckerberg Challenges Apple's Closed Ecosystem, Advocates for Open-Source AI

Mark Zuckerberg is tired of playing by Apple's rules | Business Insider India

Mark Zuckerberg sounds tired of having to navigate Apple's restrictions. The Facebook cofounder called out Apple in a blog post published on Meta's website on Tuesday announcing the newest Lllama AI models. "One of my formative experiences has been building our services constrained by what Apple will let us build on their platforms," Zuckerberg wrote. "Between the way they tax developers, the arbitrary rules they apply, and all the product innovations they block from shipping, it's clear that Meta and many other companies would be freed up to build much better services for people if we could build the best versions of our products and competitors were not able to constrain what we could build," he added. The Meta CEO has been pouring billions into trying to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again. Zuckerberg is betting big on both the metaverse and AI as the future technology where people will spend their time, and Meta is developing its own AI and software to power the AR and VR headsets, such as the Quest lineup, used to access the metaverse. "On a philosophical level, this is a major reason why I believe so strongly in building open ecosystems in AI and AR/VR for the next generation of computing," Zuckerberg said in the blog post. Apple's approach is different. The company prefers the "walled garden" approach, which gives it tight control of its ecosystem. Apple has said this helps give the best user experience and is better for safety and privacy. For its upcoming generative AI features, Apple Intelligence, the company opted to partner with OpenAI to begin with, but also developed many of its own AI features. While Apple has said it's open to integrating other third-party AI models in the future, such as Google's Gemini, the company reportedly snubbed Meta's AI in early talks over data privacy concerns. Zuckerberg expanded on his critique of Apple in an interview with AI news YouTuber Rowan Cheung, also published Tuesday. He said that while he doesn't think Apple will necessarily be "in the wrong place" for AI, he believes that open-source models should -- and will -- be the standard. "They absolutely, from my perspective, apply different rules to kind of limit what we can do," he said, referring to Apple. Zuckerberg said he doesn't consider himself an "open-source zealot," but he has previously slammed closed-source AI companies and those trying to build a singular AGI "God." He also clearly hasn't forgotten the roughly $10 billion revenue hit Meta's apps took when Apple introduced new privacy prompts in 2021 that asked iPhone users to choose which apps had permission to track their behavior for advertising purposes. Meta's CFO at the time, David Wehner, said that the iOS update hurt Facebook's ad revenue. "I think it's a little bit soul-crushing when you go build features that are what you believe is good for your community, and then you're told that you can't ship them because some company wants to put you in a box," Zuckerberg said. While Zuck acknowledged that Apple's dominance in the mobile industry has made a convincing case for a closed model, he pointed to PCs as a more open model that easily rivaled Apple systems. "Compared to the Apple approach of coupling your operating system with the device, the Windows approach was a more open ecosystem," he said. "And it won." And Zuckerberg hopes Meta will also be on the winning side. He said he wants to "restore the industry" to a state where open ecosystems become the leading model -- and for Meta to be at the forefront. "That's something that I just personally and philosophically care about," Zuckerberg said. "Given the kind of limits on creativity that I've felt have sort of been applied to our industry by the closed model of mobile development."

Mark Zuckerberg is tired of playing by Apple's rules

This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. "Between the way they tax developers, the arbitrary rules they apply, and all the product innovations they block from shipping, it's clear that Meta and many other companies would be freed up to build much better services for people if we could build the best versions of our products and competitors were not able to constrain what we could build," he added. The Meta CEO has been pouring billions into trying to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again. Zuckerberg is betting big on both the metaverse and AI as the future technology where people will spend their time, and Meta is developing its own AI and software to power the AR and VR headsets, such as the Quest lineup, used to access the metaverse. "On a philosophical level, this is a major reason why I believe so strongly in building open ecosystems in AI and AR/VR for the next generation of computing," Zuckerberg said in the blog post. Apple's approach is different. The company prefers the "walled garden" approach, which gives it tight control of its ecosystem. Apple has said this helps give the best user experience and is better for safety and privacy. For its upcoming generative AI features, Apple Intelligence, the company opted to partner with OpenAI to begin with, but also developed many of its own AI features. While Apple has said it's open to integrating other third-party AI models in the future, such as Google's Gemini, the company reportedly snubbed Meta's AI in early talks over data privacy concerns. Zuckerberg expanded on his critique of Apple in an interview with AI news YouTuber Rowan Cheung, also published Tuesday. He said that while he doesn't think Apple will necessarily be "in the wrong place" for AI, he believes that open-source models should -- and will -- be the standard. "They absolutely, from my perspective, apply different rules to kind of limit what we can do," he said, referring to Apple. Zuckerberg said he doesn't consider himself an "open-source zealot," but he has previously slammed closed-source AI companies and those trying to build a singular AGI "God." He also clearly hasn't forgotten the roughly $10 billion revenue hit Meta's apps took when Apple introduced new privacy prompts in 2021 that asked iPhone users to choose which apps had permission to track their behavior for advertising purposes. Meta's CFO at the time, David Wehner, said that the iOS update hurt Facebook's ad revenue. "I think it's a little bit soul-crushing when you go build features that are what you believe is good for your community, and then you're told that you can't ship them because some company wants to put you in a box," Zuckerberg said. While Zuck acknowledged that Apple's dominance in the mobile industry has made a convincing case for a closed model, he pointed to PCs as a more open model that easily rivaled Apple systems. "Compared to the Apple approach of coupling your operating system with the device, the Windows approach was a more open ecosystem," he said. "And it won." And Zuckerberg hopes Meta will also be on the winning side. He said he wants to "restore the industry" to a state where open ecosystems become the leading model -- and for Meta to be at the forefront. "That's something that I just personally and philosophically care about," Zuckerberg said. "Given the kind of limits on creativity that I've felt have sort of been applied to our industry by the closed model of mobile development."

Mark Zuckerberg Says Apple's 'Constrained' Platform Is the 'Major Reason' He's Pushing for Open Source AI

Transparent AI development means that Meta wouldn't be bound to a closed ecosystem created by a rival, according to Zuckerberg. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who leads one of the largest tech companies in the world, is advocating for open-source AI to ensure "that power isn't concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies." Zuckerberg published a letter on Facebook Tuesday pushing for open-source AI, or publicly available AI for anyone to copy, change, or use as the basis for further innovation. In the section, "Why open source AI is good for Meta," Zuckerberg said his experience creating Meta's services on Apple products is a "major reason" why he believes in open AI development. Related: Mark Zuckerberg Sounds Off on Developing AI: 'I Don't Think AI Technology Is a Thing That Should Be Hoarded' "One of my formative experiences has been building our services constrained by what Apple will let us build on their platforms," Zuckerberg wrote. "It's clear that Meta and many other companies would be freed up to build much better services for people if we could build the best versions of our products and competitors were not able to constrain what we could build." Zuckerberg highlighted Apple's "arbitrary rules," and "all the product innovations they block from shipping." He also mentioned Apple's developer tax, a standard 30% cut of app sales. With transparent AI development, Meta and other companies wouldn't be tied to a closed ecosystem created by rivals like Apple, Zuckerberg stated. Related: Elon Musk Releases the AI Model Behind Grok, a Competitor to OpenAI's ChatGPT Zuckerberg also announced a new open source Meta AI model: Llama 3.1, and said it has better cost and performance than closed models, like ChatGPT. Meta has partnered with Nvidia and Amazon to help developers create and fine-tune their models, and Zuckerberg says that for Meta's AI to become the industry standard, its AI models have to be open "generation after generation," indicating that Meta's long-term AI strategy is open source. Zuckerberg touted images generated by Meta AI on Tuesday, asking his Threads followers which of a few AI images they liked the most. Meta has already released open-source AI models Llama and Llama 2, and Zuckerberg says that the AI models to come next year will be among the best in the industry. However, the "open source" labels for Meta's models are not without controversy; the Open Source Initiative wrote in July 2023 that Meta's Llama 2 is not open source because Meta restricts how it can be used. Related: Mark Cuban Extends Rare Praise to Elon Musk on Grok: 'Outstanding' AI is pricey to develop. Dario Amodei, the CEO of $18 billion AI startup Anthropic, said earlier this month that it takes about $100 million to train AI, and the price is only going up. Zuckerberg says opening releasing AI "doesn't undercut" Meta's revenue because selling AI isn't Meta's business model. "I believe that open source is necessary for a positive AI future," Zuckerberg stated.

Mark Zuckerberg stumps for 'open source' AI

In an open letter on Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reinforced what some said was a risky stance taken by his company: that open source development of artificial intelligence would allow technologists to learn how powerful AI models are created and use that knowledge to build their own AI programs.For years, technologists have debated whether it is better for companies to keep the details of their computer code secret or share it with software developers around the world. That debate -- closed versus open source -- has become inflamed by the rapid development of artificial intelligence and worries that AI is quickly becoming a national security issue. In an open letter on Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg reinforced what some said was a risky stance taken by his company: that open source development of artificial intelligence would allow technologists to learn how powerful AI models are created and use that knowledge to build their own AI programs. Zuckerberg said it was unrealistic to think that a handful of companies could keep their AI technology secret, particularly when Silicon Valley has for years been a target for espionage by countries such as China. "I think governments will conclude it's in their interest to support open source because it will make the world more prosperous and safer," he said in the letter, adding that clamping down on sharing AI research would simply stifle American innovation. Meta also released the latest and most powerful version of its AI algorithm, called LLaMA, and added support for seven additional languages -- including Hindi, French and Spanish -- for Meta AI, the company's AI-powered smart assistant. Zuckerberg's renewed call for an embrace of open source tech comes as the Biden administration weighs how regulators should react to AI. Last year, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that called for more safeguards around the technology, including ways to combat the proliferation of misinformation that AI-powered chatbots and video programs were capable of spreading. In April, the Commerce Department asked for feedback on a series of draft proposals on how to reckon with artificial intelligence. Companies including OpenAI, Microsoft and Google have maintained that AI could be dangerous and was developing so quickly that it should be tightly held by the technologists who understand it best. Critics have also said that AI software developed in the United States could be used by countries such as China in order to compete with or potentially harm Americans. Others, like Zuckerberg and executives at smaller startups including Hugging Face, believe that the more people who have eyes on the development of the software, the easier it will be to spot problems. "Open source will ensure that more people around the world have access to the benefits and opportunities of AI, that power isn't concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, and that the technology can be deployed more evenly and safely across society," Zuckerberg said. Zuckerberg's motives aren't just altruistic, he admits. The more technologists use Meta's services, the more its own products are standardized across the industry. And Zuckerberg doesn't want to have to go through the products of other companies -- mainly Apple and Google -- to reach his customers, as he has been forced to do for years. "We must ensure that we always have access to the best technology, and that we're not locking into a competitor's closed ecosystem where they can restrict what we build," he added in the letter.

Mark Zuckerberg Just Intensified the Battle for AI's Future

The tech industry is currently embroiled in a heated debate over the future of AI: should powerful systems be open-source and freely accessible, or closed and tightly monitored for dangers? On Tuesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg fired a salvo into this ongoing battle, publishing not just a new series of powerful AI models, but also a manifesto forcefully advocating for the open-source approach. The document, which was widely praised by venture capitalists and tech leaders like Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, serves as both a philosophical treatise and a rallying cry for proponents of open-source AI development. It arrives as intensifying global efforts to regulate AI have galvanized resistance from open-source advocates, who see some of those potential laws as threats to innovation and accessibility. At the heart of Meta's announcement on Tuesday was the release of its latest generation of Llama large language models, the company's answer to ChatGPT. The biggest of these new models, Meta claims, is the first open-source large language model to reach the so-called "frontier" of AI capabilities. Meta has taken on a very different strategy with AI compared to its competitors OpenAI, Google DeepMind and Anthropic. Those companies sell access to their AIs through web browsers or interfaces known as APIs, a strategy that allows them to protect their intellectual property, monitor the use of their models, and bar bad actors from using them. By contrast, Meta has chosen to open-source the "weights," or the underlying neural networks, of its Llama models -- meaning they can be freely downloaded by anybody and run on their own machines. That strategy has put Meta's competitors under financial pressure, and has won it many fans in the software world. But Meta's strategy has also been criticized by many in the field of AI safety, who warn that open-sourcing powerful AI models has already led to societal harms like deepfakes, and could in future open a Pandora's box of worse dangers. In his manifesto, Zuckerberg argues most of those concerns are unfounded and frames Meta's strategy as a democratizing force in AI development. "Open-source will ensure that more people around the world have access to the benefits and opportunities of AI, that power isn't concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, and that the technology can be deployed more evenly and safely across society," he writes. "It will make the world more prosperous and safer." But while Zuckerberg's letter presents Meta as on the side of progress, it is also a deft political move. Recent polling suggests that the American public would welcome laws that restrict the development of potentially-dangerous AI, even if it means hampering some innovation. And several pieces of AI legislation around the world, including the SB1047 bill in California, and the ENFORCE Act in Washington, D.C., would place limits on the kinds of systems that companies like Meta can open-source, due to safety concerns. Many of the venture capitalists and tech CEOs who celebrated Zuckerberg's letter after its publication have in recent weeks mounted a growing campaign to shape public opinion against regulations that would constrain open-source AI releases. "This letter is part of a broader trend of some Silicon Valley CEOs and venture capitalists refusing to take responsibility for damages their AI technology may cause," says Andrea Miotti, the executive director of AI safety group Control AI. "Including catastrophic outcomes." The philosophical underpinnings for Zuckerberg's commitment to open-source, he writes, stem from his company's long struggle against Apple, which via its iPhone operating system constrains what Meta can build, and which via its App Store takes a cut of Meta's revenue. He argues that building an open ecosystem -- in which Meta's models become the industry standard due to their customizability and lack of constraints -- will benefit both Meta and those who rely on its models, harming only rent-seeking companies who aim to lock in users. (Critics point out, however, that the Llama models, while more accessible than their competitors, still come with usage restrictions that fall short of true open-source principles.) Zuckerberg also argues that closed AI providers have a business model that relies on selling access to their systems -- and suggests that their concerns about the dangers of open-source, including lobbying governments against it, may stem from this conflict of interest. Addressing worries about safety, Zuckerberg writes that open-source AI will be better at addressing "unintentional" types of harm than the closed alternative, due to the nature of transparent systems being more open to scrutiny and improvement. "Historically, open-source software has been more secure for this reason," he writes. As for intentional harm, like misuse by bad actors, Zuckerberg argues that "large-scale actors" with high compute resources, like companies and governments, will be able to use their own AI to police "less sophisticated actors" misusing open-source systems. "As long as everyone has access to similar generations of models -- which open-source promotes -- then governments and institutions with more compute resources will be able to check bad actors with less compute," he writes. But "not all 'large actors' are benevolent," says Hamza Tariq Chaudhry, a U.S. policy specialist at the Future of Life Institute, a nonprofit focused on AI risk. "The most authoritarian states will likely repurpose models like Llama to perpetuate their power and commit injustices." Chaudhry, who is originally from Pakistan, adds: "Coming from the Global South, I am acutely aware that AI-powered cyberattacks, disinformation campaigns and other harms pose a much greater danger to countries with nascent institutions and severe resource constraints, far away from Silicon Valley." Zuckerberg's argument also doesn't address a central worry held by many people concerned with AI safety: the risk that AI could create an "offense-defense asymmetry," or in other words strengthen attackers while doing little to strengthen defenders. "Zuckerberg's statements showcase a concerning disregard for basic security in Meta's approach to AI," says Miotti, the director of Control AI. "When dealing with catastrophic dangers, it's a simple fact that offense needs only to get lucky once, but defense needs to get lucky every time. A virus can spread and kill in days, while deploying a treatment can take years." Later in his letter, Zuckerberg addresses other worries that open-source AI will allow China to gain access to the most powerful AI models, potentially harming U.S. national security interests. He says he believes that closing off models "will not work and will only disadvantage the U.S. and its allies." China is good at espionage, he argues, adding that "most tech companies are far from" the level of security that would prevent China from being able to steal advanced AI model weights. "It seems most likely that a world of only closed models results in a small number of big companies plus our geopolitical adversaries having access to leading models, while startups, universities, and small businesses miss out on opportunities," he writes. "Plus, constraining American innovation to closed development increases the chance that we don't lead at all." Miotti is unimpressed by the argument. "Zuckerberg admits that advanced AI technology is easily stolen by hostile actors," he says, "but his solution is to just give it to them for free."

Mark Zuckerberg gives 4 reasons why Open Source AI is Good for Facebook parent Meta - Times of India

Facebook and Instagram-parent company released the next version of its AI model called Llama 3.1. Company CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the announcement in the video, calling it "the most advanced open source" AI model yet. He also wrote a blog, explaining how open source AI is good for the company and is a way forward. "Meta is committed to open source AI.I'll outline why I believe open source is the best development stack for you, why open sourcing Llama is good for Meta, and why open source AI is good for the world and therefore a platform that will be around for the long term," he said in a blog post. What is open source software Open source software (OSS) is computer software with its source code publicly available for anyone to inspect, modify and distribute. In comparison, proprietary software is owned by a specific company and its code is kept secret, open source software promotes collaboration and transparency. To make the concept clear, Android is an open source software that allows companies like Vivo, Oppo, Motorola and others to use the platform and offer a host of features. On the other hand, iOS -- offered by Apple for iPhones -- is proprietary software. Zuckerberg on why open source AI is good for Meta Zuckerberg said that the company's core mission is to create "best experiences and services for people". To achieve this, he noted, developers must have unrestricted access to cutting-edge technology as relying on closed ecosystems limits the ability to innovate and grow. "People often ask if I'm worried about giving up a technical advantage by open sourcing Llama, but I think this misses the big picture for a few reasons," he said, providing these four reasons: First, to ensure that we have access to the best technology and aren't locked into a closed ecosystem over the long term, Llama needs to develop into a full ecosystem of tools, efficiency improvements, silicon optimizations, and other integrations. If we were the only company using Llama, this ecosystem wouldn't develop and we'd fare no better than the closed variants of Unix. Second, I expect AI development will continue to be very competitive, which means that open sourcing any given model isn't giving away a massive advantage over the next best models at that point in time. The path for Llama to become the industry standard is by being consistently competitive, efficient, and open generation after generation. Third, a key difference between Meta and closed model providers is that selling access to AI models isn't our business model. That means openly releasing Llama doesn't undercut our revenue, sustainability, or ability to invest in research like it does for closed providers. (This is one reason several closed providers consistently lobby governments against open source.) Finally, Meta has a long history of open source projects and successes. We've saved billions of dollars by releasing our server, network, and data centre designs with Open Compute Project and having supply chains standardise on our designs. We benefited from the ecosystem's innovations by open sourcing leading tools like PyTorch, React, and many more tools. This approach has consistently worked for us when we stick with it over the long term. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.

Meta launches open-source AI app 'competitive' with closed rivals

Tech firm says its freely available and usable Llama 3.1 405B model is comparable with likes of OpenAI and Anthropic Meta has claimed that its new artificial intelligence model is the first open-source system that will rival products from competitors such as OpenAI and Anthropic. In a blogpost, the company said its new model, with the unwieldy name of Llama 3.1 405B, "is competitive" with others - including those from OpenAI and Anthropic - "across a range of tasks". If true, it would mean that for the first time, one of the most powerful AI models in the world is available without an intermediary charging for access - or controlling what its technology is used for. "Developers can fully customise the models for their needs and applications, train on new datasets, and conduct additional fine-tuning," Meta said. "This enables the broader developer community and the world to more fully realise the power of generative AI. Developers can fully customise for their applications and run in any environment ... all without sharing data with Meta." Those who use Llama on Meta's own apps (where it is available, for now, in the US only) will have extra layers of "safety", the company claims. Those, too, are open-source, and the company has no way of forcing others to apply them to their own uses of the model. "I believe that open source is necessary for a positive AI future," Mark Zuckerberg, Meta's co-founder, wrote in a blogpost. "AI has more potential than any other modern technology to increase human productivity, creativity, and quality of life - and to accelerate economic growth while unlocking progress in medical and scientific research. Open source will ensure that more people around the world have access to the benefits and opportunities of AI, that power isn't concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, and that the technology can be deployed more evenly and safely across society." Zuckerberg conceded that "bad actors may be able to use the intelligence of AI models to fabricate entirely new harms". But, he argued, "I think it will be better to live in a world where AI is widely deployed so that larger actors can check the power of smaller bad actors." So far, Meta has been marking its own homework on the question of its model's power. The model's sheer size puts it on a par with the largest systems from competitors. But until third parties are able to run fair tests between Llama 3.1 405B and peers like GPT-4o, it isn't guaranteed that the pure size will match the effectiveness of the current leaders in the field. Currently, only users in the US can easily access the AI model. Meta reportedly avoided an EU launch due to concerns about the bloc's regulatory framework around AI and data protection, and in the end appears to have decided to stick to a single country for the launch period. But as an open-source system, Llama 3.1 405B will probably be accessible to users outside the EU through other channels soon.

Meta Unveils New Open AI Model That Rivals OpenAI and Google Models

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been vocal supporter of open AI, promoting the use of open-source tools that can help the company gain influence in the AI race with OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic, which make closed AI models. The new open AI model is available to users in the U.S. on WhatsApp and meta.ai. Llama 3.1 is also available through Meta's partner ecosystems, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Nvidia (NVDA), Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and others. Meta shares were up 1.1% at $492.80 around 1:30 p.m. ET Tuesday, contributing to the stock's nearly 40% year-to-date gain.

Meta releases open source AI model it says rivals OpenAI, Google tech

"Llama 3 is competitive with the most advanced models," Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in an open letter Tuesday. "Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry." When OpenAI released ChatGPT in late 2022, it kicked off an arms race among Big Tech companies to build new AI products and get people to pay for them. Microsoft did a multibillion dollar deal with OpenAI to access its tech, while Google created its own AI models and integrated them into its products. Facebook has also spent huge amounts of money on AI, but unlike Microsoft and Google, it does not have a large cloud software business to help it sell that AI to other businesses.

Meta releases the biggest and best open-source AI model yet

Back in April, Meta teased that it was working on a first for the AI industry: an open-source model with performance that matched the best private models from companies like OpenAI. Today, that model has arrived. Meta is releasing Llama 3.1, the largest-ever open-source AI model, which the company claims outperforms GPT-4o and Anthropic's Claude 3.5 Sonnet on several benchmarks. It's also making the Llama-based Meta AI assistant available in more countries and languages while adding a feature that can generate images based on someone's specific likeness. CEO Mark Zuckerberg now predicts that Meta AI will be the most widely used assistant by the end of this year, surpassing ChatGPT.

Meta announces a new open source AI model

Why it matters: Meta has made its models freely available for others -- with some limits -- and now aims to show it can compete with the largest LLMs. Driving the news: The release is Meta's largest text-based language model to date. The company is adding support for eight languages and larger context windows (the amount of information that can be considered as part of the user's prompt). What they're saying: "Our experimental evaluation suggests that our flagship model is competitive with leading foundation models across a range of tasks, including GPT-4, GPT-4o, and Claude 3.5 Sonnet," Meta said in a blog post. "Additionally, our smaller models are competitive with closed and open models that have a similar number of parameters." What's next: Meta said it will bring its AI capabilities to its Meta Quest headset starting next month as an experimental feature, offering it as a replacement for the VR headset's existing voice commands feature.