Meta has confirmed its imminent release of Llama 3, the next iteration of its large language model set to power generative AI assistants. The announcement at an event in London aligns with reports speculating on Meta's impending launch, indicating a strategic move to enhance its AI offerings.

According to Nick Clegg, Meta's president of global affairs, the rollout of Llama 3 is slated to begin within the next month. Meta's Chief Product Officer, Chris Cox, stressed the need to integrate Llama 3 across multiple Meta products, marking a significant step in expanding its AI capabilities.

Meta's endeavours in AI have been influenced by the success of OpenAI's ChatGPT, prompting the company to intensify efforts to catch up with competitors. Llama 3, described as broader in scope compared to its predecessors, aims to address criticisms of previous versions regarding limitations in functionality. The new model is expected to offer improved accuracy in answering questions and handle various, including potentially controversial ones, to engage users effectively.

Why does it matter?

While Meta embraces an open-source approach with its Llama models, signalling with developer preferences, it remains cautious in other aspects of generative AI. The company refrains from releasing Emu, its image generation tool, citing concerns about latency, safety, and usability. Despite the company's advancements in AI technology, notable figures within Meta express scepticism about the future of generative AI, favouring alternative approaches like joint embedding predicting architecture (JEPA) championed by Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist.