Meta has fundamentally transformed its business strategy by focusing on Llama, its open-source artificial intelligence model. According to Sharon Goldman’s detailed report in Fortune, CEO Mark Zuckerberg made the pivotal decision to release Llama 2 as open-source in July 2023, despite internal concerns about monetization and security risks. The model has since been downloaded over 600 million times and now powers many of Meta’s core products across Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, and its AR/VR devices.
The company has invested heavily in this direction, projecting up to $40 billion in capital expenditures for 2024. While Meta gives Llama away for free to thousands of companies, Zuckerberg argues that open-sourcing provides competitive advantages by accelerating innovation and preventing AI monopolies. The strategy marks a significant shift from Meta’s previous focus on the metaverse and has helped restore investor confidence in the company’s direction, though questions remain about future revenue generation from these investments.