Unlimited AI

Recently, Meta launched its artificial intelligence platform, Llama 3.0, which  we can also use in WhatsApp and in Instagram. This could be a revolution or a disaster. If people like Llama 3.0, the popularity of AI would be unstoppable. On the contrary, if the answers are useless, the images too fake, or there are many privacy concerns, it would be a great disappointment and a step back for   the incorporation of AI in our daily lives.  

Isn’t that a lot of responsibility for Mark Zuckerberg’s company? 

As the Bible says, “From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.” Meta has changed the world in many ways since its flagship brand, Facebook, appeared in 2004. For sure, how we travel, interact, buy, entertain, inform, and even fall in love or divorce has changed because of social media, but especially with the apps of this tech giant. 

Together with Google, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft, Meta has ruled the tech industry for 20 years. But it’s not only important because of its profits. In 2022, the company was ranked third among the multinationals’ spending on research and development worldwide, allocating US$35.3 billion.  

Certainly, investing in research could make it an even richer agent, as well as helping the enterprise continue its leadership. Even so, it is remarkable that this Californian conglomerate is looking at other future businesses like virtual reality, the metaverse or AI and not working solely on social media.   

At first, many people concluded that this was just another company trying to be part of the AI boom. Nonetheless, if we analyze the situation a little bit more, we can see that Mark Zuckerberg is setting the stage for a very big debate, and more than that, promoting a truly universal, open technology. 

What’s different between this release and OpenAI’s big promise with ChatGPT? 

Obviously, the business model. OpenAI is developing the best of its products for its subscribers and the use for the rest of the people is limited. This even prompted Elon Musk to criticize the organization, saying it had lost its nonprofit mission. By November 2023, ChatGPT had an estimated annual revenue of US$3.4 billion. About 55% of that, or US$1.9 billion, comes from its 7.7 million ChatGPT Plus subscribers who pay $20 a month for the service. Another 21%, or US$714 million, comes from the company's 1.2 million $50-a-month ChatGPT Enterprise subscribers. Could everyone pay for it? 

In Latin America, the average minimum wage is between US$300 and US$450, and for many citizens, especially students, and small and medium-sized enterprises, AI can be very expensive. This could create a bigger and more profound digital breach for the region.   

On the other side, Meta is looking for open – and free – AI development.  

For years, along with other tech companies, the former Facebook promoted the idea that cyberspace must prevail as a free-of-charge technology where  everyone could express themselves freely, governments could be more democratic, e-commerce could be for any business, and that users from all ages could participate. Surely, they wanted their own rules (community policies), and they argued that overregulation would change the way we use the internet without solving the problems. 

Now, Meta consistently is using those same arguments to stand out from its competitors. Will Llama 3.0 be the passport for developers to make significant progress on AI issues?

In the few days since Llama 3.0 was launched, there has been a lot of enthusiasm but also concerns, especially about data protection, security breaches and poor controls. This is not news. In the last 70 years, since scientist Alan Turing wrote about his worries about  AI, many others have shared troubles with its implementation. Science-fiction films and TV episodes have suggested for decades that, in the future, machines will rule the world and that human beings are going to be displaced.

Nowadays, with a more realistic technology that could change many jobs, industries, and education all over the world, it is easy to be overwhelmed. Besides all the amazing things that AI can do, we are far from having self-aware robots. But we are near a new step in the digital era that can be free and universal, or only for those who can afford it. The “first miracle” in this historical moment, is that Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg agree about an open-source AI, and both are disappointed with OpenAI’s vision, setting aside their disputes for a moment. Incredibly, maybe this could be “the beginning of a beautiful friendship,” as Rick Blaine said in Casablanca.