Meta's Llama models are becoming more popular every day because of their open-source nature. They are already used by a broad community of developers, researchers, and government bodies worldwide. Today, Meta announced that it is making Llama available to U.S. government agencies, including those working on defense and national security applications, and external contractors supporting their defense and national security work.
Meta has partnered with several companies, including Accenture Federal Services, Amazon Web Services, Anduril, Booz Allen, Databricks, Deloitte, IBM, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, Scale AI, and Snowflake, to bring Llama to U.S. government agencies in various ways.
For example, Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure will host Llama models for government agencies on their secure cloud solutions designed for sensitive data. Similarly, IBM's watsonx is bringing Llama to national security agencies in their self-managed data centers and clouds.
Meta claims that the ethical use of open-source AI models like Llama will support the prosperity and security of the United States and help establish U.S. open-source standards in the global race for AI leadership. Meta mentioned that large language models like Llama could streamline complicated logistics and planning, track terrorist financing, strengthen cyber defenses, and more within government agencies.
Meta also highlighted the need for open-source language models as the U.S. government considers restricting open-source AI. Meta's argument is that existing open-source systems have helped the U.S. government accelerate defense research and high-end computing, identify security vulnerabilities, and improve communication between disparate systems. Meta mentioned that China and other U.S. competitors are racing to develop their own open-source models, investing heavily to leap ahead of the U.S.
Nick Clegg, President of Global Affairs at Meta, wrote the following in a blog post announcing Llama's availability for government agencies:
"We believe it is in both America and the wider democratic world's interest for American open-source models to excel and succeed over models from China and elsewhere. As open-source models become more capable and more widely adopted, a global open-source standard for AI models is likely to emerge, as it has with technologies like Linux and Android. This will happen whether the United States engages or not. This standard will form the foundation for AI development around the world and become embedded in technology, infrastructure and manufacturing, and global finance and e-commerce."
By promoting open source AI, Meta aims to foster collaboration and innovation while ensuring the U.S. remains at the forefront of AI development on the global stage. This initiative could potentially shape the future of AI and its role in government and defense.
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