Oddbean

Facebook screws over Google and Microsoft Of all CEOs to go open source with AI, it’s Zuck Meta is releasing the largest OPEN SOURCE AI model, that cost billions to develop. Llama 3.1, which he claims can beat ChatGPT and Google’s bullshit, on multiple benchmarks. And now he’s completely just giving it away. And it’s cheaper to setup server-side also. [1] Quote Wired, “Meta CEO Zuckerberg compared Llama to the open source Linux operating system. When Linux took off in the late '90s and early 2000s many big tech companies were invested in closed alternatives and criticized open source software as risky and unreliable. Today however Linux is widely used in cloud computing and serves as the core of the Android mobile OS. “I believe that AI will develop in a similar way,” Zuckerberg writes in his letter. “Today, several tech companies are developing leading closed models. But open source is quickly closing the gap.” [2] Sources: [1] https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/23/24204055/meta-ai-llama-3-1-open-source-assistant-openai-chatgpt [2] https://www.wired.com/story/meta-ai-llama-3/

Never get confused about what hes doing. He is not giving it to the world, he's trying to ensure that the competitors have no proprietary advantage that can overcome network effects. They have some other plan to monetize it, and seeing as it's Meta, I'd be willing to bet it's predatory. It's similar reasoning to Meta being the largest contributor to OSM. Google already has the commercial advantage on maps, and that's the key difference, but if OSM can beat Google on accuracy then they're not a monopoly player anymore. Make no mistake, his goal is to beat Google and take their position in the tech industry.

Yeah, we get resources for improved maps, but if Meta ever gets *control* of OSM, it will start undermining it the way Google does with chromium and Android. Their goal is not to give us something awesome for free, it's to try to take Google down a notch by reducing reliance on their maps. So we can't rest easy, but we can enjoy the benefit they give so long as we remain vigilant about their nature and true motive and avoid them abusing their influence on the project.

Its probably the same logic as Android. Google open sourced it, let many companies contribute and develop to speed up development to compete with iOS, then take it, thow a proprietary code in, close source and add google play without with most people cannot use it. So projects using the open source version will be beneficial, like AOSP based roms. Majority will get screwed somehow.