US national security agencies and defense contractors will now use Meta‘s AI model, Llama.

This declaration followed a Reuters report claiming that the Chinese government's military wing had developed defense applications using an old version of the AI model.

What is Meta Llama?

Meta LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI) is a family of open-source large language models developed by Meta designed to advance natural language processing capabilities. LLaMA models are built on state-of-the-art machine learning techniques. They are trained on vast amounts of text data to perform various tasks, such as text generation, translation, summarization, and question answering. Unlike many other models, Meta has made LLaMA models publicly available for research and development, encouraging collaboration and transparency in AI development. These models come in various sizes, from smaller versions to more powerful ones, catering to different use cases while prioritizing efficiency and accessibility in AI development.

This announcement changed Mark Zuckerberg’s policy of not using llamas for military, warfare, nuclear industries or applications, and espionage. 

According to reports, the company has made an exception only for US agencies and contractors as well as national security agencies in the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. 

In a blog post by Nick Clegg, president of global affairs at Meta, "These kinds of responsible and ethical uses of open source AI models like Llama will not only support the prosperity and security of the United States, they will also help establish US open-source standards in the global race for AI leadership."

Amazon Web Services, Anduril, Booz Allen, Databricks, Deloitte, IBM, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, Scale AI, and Snowflake are among the federal contractors that Meta is opening up Llama to.

Meta emphasized the necessity of creating AI that is more sophisticated than China's. Many members of the US Congress bring up this crucial issue when debating whether and how to govern AI.

Further in his blog, Clegg emphasizes the crucial connection between national security, economic output, innovation, and job growth, arguing that widespread adoption of American open-source AI models benefits both the U.S.'s economic and security interests. He warns that other nations, particularly China and other U.S. competitors, are also racing to develop and invest heavily in their own open-source AI models, aiming to outpace the United States in this critical area.

Two Chinese researchers connected to the People's Liberation Army (PLA) were able to acquire and utilize an earlier version of Llama to create a chatbot that assisted in the collection and processing of military intelligence, according to a Reuters article.