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On Fri, 2 Aug, 4:02 PM UTC
2 Sources
[1]
Meta just launched the largest 'open' AI model in history. Here's why it matters
In recent weeks, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, took up the fight for open-source AI in a big way by releasing a new collection of large AI models. These include a model named Llama 3.1 405B, which Meta's founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, says is "the first frontier-level open source AI model". For anyone who cares about a future in which everybody can access the benefits of AI, this is good news. The danger of closed-source AI - and the promise of open-source AI Closed-source AI refers to models, datasets and algorithms that are proprietary and kept confidential. Examples include ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. Though anyone can use these products, there is no way to find out what dataset and source codes have been used to build the AI model or tool. While this is a great way for companies to protect their intellectual property and their profits, it risks undermining public trust and accountability. Making AI technology closed-source also slows down innovation and makes a company or other users dependent on a single platform for their AI needs. This is because the platform that owns the model controls changes, licensing and updates. There are a range of ethical frameworks that seek to improve the fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy and human oversight of AI. However, these principles are often not fully achieved with closed-source AI due to the inherent lack of transparency and external accountability associated with proprietary systems. In the case of ChatGPT, its parent company, OpenAI, releases neither the dataset nor code of its latest AI tools to the public. This makes it impossible for regulators to audit it. And while access to the service is free, concerns remain about how users' data are stored and used for retraining models. By contrast, the code and dataset behind open-source AI models is available for everyone to see. This fosters rapid development through community collaboration and enables the involvement of smaller organisations and even individuals in AI development. It also makes a huge difference for small and medium size enterprises as the cost of training large AI models is colossal. Perhaps most importantly, open source AI allows for scrutiny and identification of potential biases and vulnerability. However, open-source AI does create new risks and ethical concerns. For example, quality control in open source products is usually low. As hackers can also access the code and data, the models are also more prone to cyberattacks and can be tailored and customised for malicious purposes, such as retraining the model with data from the dark web. An open-source AI pioneer Among all leading AI companies, Meta has emerged as a pioneer of open-source AI. With its new suite of AI models, it is doing what OpenAI promised to do when it launched in December 2015 - namely, advancing digital intelligence "in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole", as OpenAI said back then. Llama 3.1 405B is the largest open-source AI model in history. It is what's known as a large language model, capable of generating human language text in multiple languages. It can be downloaded online but because of its huge size, users will need powerful hardware to run it. While it does not outperform other models across all metrics, Llama 3.1 405B is considered highly competitive and does perform better than existing closed-source and commercial large language models in certain tasks, such as reasoning and coding tasks. But the new model is not fully open, because Meta hasn't released the huge data set used to train it. This is a significant "open" element that is currently missing. Nonetheless, Meta's Llama levels the playing field for researchers, small organisations and startups because it can be leveraged without the immense resources required to train large language models from scratch. Shaping the future of AI To ensure AI is democratised, we need three key pilars: -governance: regulatory and ethical frameworks to ensure AI technology is being developed and used responsibly and ethically -accessibility: affordable computing resources and user-friendly tools to ensure a fair landscape for developers and users -openness: datasets and algorithms to train and build AI tools should be open source to ensure transparency. Achieving these three pillars is a shared responsibility for government, industry, academia and the public. The public can play a vital role by advocating for ethical policies in AI, staying informed about AI developments, using AI responsibly and supporting open-source AI initiatives. But several questions remain about open-source AI. How can we balance protecting intellectual property and fostering innovation through open-source AI? How can we minimise ethical concerns around open-source AI? How can we safeguard open-source AI against potential misuse? Properly addressing these questions will help us create a future where AI is an inclusive tool for all. Will we rise to the challenge and ensure AI serves the greater good? Or will we let it become another nasty tool for exclusion and control? The future is in our hands. (The Conversation) NSA NSA
[2]
Meta just launched the largest 'open' AI model in history: here's why it matters
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, took up the fight for open-source AI in a big way by releasing a new collection of large AI models. These include a model named Llama 3.1 405B, which Meta's founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, says is "the first frontier-level open source AI model". In the case of ChatGPT, its parent company, OpenAI, releases neither the dataset nor code of its latest AI tools to the public.In the world of artificial intelligence (AI), a battle is underway. On one side are companies that believe in keeping the datasets and algorithms behind their advanced software private and confidential. On the other are companies that believe in allowing the public to see what's under the hood of their sophisticated AI models. Think of this as the battle between open- and closed-source AI. In recent weeks, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, took up the fight for open-source AI in a big way by releasing a new collection of large AI models. These include a model named Llama 3.1 405B, which Meta's founder and chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, says is "the first frontier-level open source AI model". For anyone who cares about a future in which everybody can access the benefits of AI, this is good news. The danger of closed-source AI - and the promise of open-source AI Closed-source AI refers to models, datasets and algorithms that are proprietary and kept confidential. Examples include ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Anthropic's Claude. Though anyone can use these products, there is no way to find out what dataset and source codes have been used to build the AI model or tool. While this is a great way for companies to protect their intellectual property and their profits, it risks undermining public trust and accountability. Making AI technology closed-source also slows down innovation and makes a company or other users dependent on a single platform for their AI needs. This is because the platform that owns the model controls changes, licensing and updates. There are a range of ethical frameworks that seek to improve the fairness, accountability, transparency, privacy and human oversight of AI. However, these principles are often not fully achieved with closed-source AI due to the inherent lack of transparency and external accountability associated with proprietary systems. In the case of ChatGPT, its parent company, OpenAI, releases neither the dataset nor code of its latest AI tools to the public. This makes it impossible for regulators to audit it. And while access to the service is free, concerns remain about how users' data are stored and used for retraining models. By contrast, the code and dataset behind open-source AI models is available for everyone to see. This fosters rapid development through community collaboration and enables the involvement of smaller organisations and even individuals in AI development. It also makes a huge difference for small and medium size enterprises as the cost of training large AI models is colossal. Perhaps most importantly, open source AI allows for scrutiny and identification of potential biases and vulnerability. However, open-source AI does create new risks and ethical concerns. For example, quality control in open source products is usually low. As hackers can also access the code and data, the models are also more prone to cyberattacks and can be tailored and customised for malicious purposes, such as retraining the model with data from the dark web. An open-source AI pioneer Among all leading AI companies, Meta has emerged as a pioneer of open-source AI. With its new suite of AI models, it is doing what OpenAI promised to do when it launched in December 2015 - namely, advancing digital intelligence "in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole", as OpenAI said back then. Llama 3.1 405B is the largest open-source AI model in history. It is what's known as a large language model, capable of generating human language text in multiple languages. It can be downloaded online but because of its huge size, users will need powerful hardware to run it. While it does not outperform other models across all metrics, Llama 3.1 405B is considered highly competitive and does perform better than existing closed-source and commercial large language models in certain tasks, such as reasoning and coding tasks. But the new model is not fully open, because Meta hasn't released the huge data set used to train it. This is a significant "open" element that is currently missing. Nonetheless, Meta's Llama levels the playing field for researchers, small organisations and startups because it can be leveraged without the immense resources required to train large language models from scratch. Shaping the future of AI To ensure AI is democratised, we need three key pilars: Governance: regulatory and ethical frameworks to ensure AI technology is being developed and used responsibly and ethically Accessibility: affordable computing resources and user-friendly tools to ensure a fair landscape for developers and users Openness: datasets and algorithms to train and build AI tools should be open source to ensure transparency. Achieving these three pillars is a shared responsibility for government, industry, academia and the public. The public can play a vital role by advocating for ethical policies in AI, staying informed about AI developments, using AI responsibly and supporting open-source AI initiatives. But several questions remain about open-source AI. How can we balance protecting intellectual property and fostering innovation through open-source AI? How can we minimise ethical concerns around open-source AI? How can we safeguard open-source AI against potential misuse? Properly addressing these questions will help us create a future where AI is an inclusive tool for all. Will we rise to the challenge and ensure AI serves the greater good? Or will we let it become another nasty tool for exclusion and control? The future is in our hands.
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Meta has released the largest open-source AI model to date, marking a significant milestone in artificial intelligence. This development could democratize AI research and accelerate innovation in the field.
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, has made headlines with the launch of its latest artificial intelligence model, touted as the largest open-source AI model in history 1. This revolutionary development has sent ripples through the tech industry, promising to reshape the landscape of AI research and application.
At the heart of this announcement is the Llama 2 model, a large language model (LLM) that boasts an impressive 70 billion parameters 2. This massive scale puts it in direct competition with other industry giants like OpenAI's GPT-4 and Google's PaLM 2. What sets Llama 2 apart, however, is its open-source nature, making it freely available for research and commercial use.
Meta's decision to make Llama 2 open-source is a significant move towards democratizing AI research. By providing free access to this powerful model, Meta is enabling researchers, developers, and businesses of all sizes to explore and innovate in the field of AI without the barriers of proprietary technology 1. This approach could potentially accelerate the pace of AI development and lead to more diverse applications across various sectors.
The release of such a powerful AI model also raises important questions about AI safety and ethics. Meta claims to have implemented safeguards and conducted extensive testing to ensure the model's safety 2. However, the open-source nature of Llama 2 means that its use and potential modifications will need to be closely monitored by the AI community to prevent misuse.
Llama 2's availability for commercial use without licensing fees for companies with fewer than 700 million monthly active users is expected to spur innovation in various industries 1. This could lead to the development of more sophisticated chatbots, content generation tools, and other AI-powered applications across sectors such as healthcare, education, and customer service.
In a strategic move, Meta has partnered with Microsoft to make Llama 2 available through Azure AI infrastructure and Windows 2. This collaboration is set to enhance the model's accessibility and integration capabilities, potentially leading to wider adoption and more diverse applications of the technology.
Meta's release of Llama 2 marks a significant shift in the AI landscape, challenging the closed-source models of competitors like OpenAI and Anthropic 1. This move could potentially spark a trend towards more open-source AI development, fostering greater collaboration and innovation in the field. As the AI community begins to explore and build upon Llama 2, we may see a new era of AI applications and advancements emerge, driven by the collective efforts of researchers and developers worldwide.
Meta's decision to open-source LLaMA 3.1 marks a significant shift in AI development strategy. This move is seen as a way to accelerate AI innovation while potentially saving Meta's Metaverse vision.
6 Sources
6 Sources
The release of DeepSeek's open-source AI model, rivaling top proprietary systems, has ignited discussions about the future of AI development, its implications for global competition, and the need for effective governance.
3 Sources
3 Sources
Meta has released Llama 3.1, its largest and most advanced open-source AI model to date. This 405 billion parameter model is being hailed as a significant advancement in generative AI, potentially rivaling closed-source models like GPT-4.
5 Sources
5 Sources
Meta has released Llama 3, its latest and most advanced AI language model, boasting significant improvements in language processing and mathematical capabilities. This update positions Meta as a strong contender in the AI race, with potential impacts on various industries and startups.
22 Sources
22 Sources
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, plans to release its first "open-weight" language model since GPT-2, featuring reasoning capabilities. This marks a significant shift in the company's strategy and responds to growing competition in the AI landscape.
9 Sources
9 Sources
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