Latest news with #Behemoth
Time of India
20 hours ago
- Business
- Time of India
Meta's new Superintelligence Lab is discussing major AI strategy changes
Synopsis Meta's new superintelligence lab is considering abandoning its open-source AI model, Behemoth, in favour of developing a closed model, marking a major strategic shift. While no final decision has been made, the move could signal a departure from Meta's long-standing open-source philosophy to better compete in the AI race.
Business Insider
a day ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Meta's superintelligence lab discussing AI strategy overhaul, NY Times says
Meta's recently-established superintelligence lab has discussed making a series of changes to the Facebook parent's AI strategy, in what would amount to a serious overhaul at the company, the New York Times' Eli Tan reports. Last week, a group of top members of the lab, including new chief AI officer Alexandr Wang, held talks that weighed potentially abandoning Meta 's Behemoth open source AI model in favor of creating a closed model, the author says, citing two people with knowledge of the matter. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Make smarter investment decisions with TipRanks' Smart Investor Picks, delivered to your inbox every week.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta built its AI reputation on openness — that may be changing
Top members of Meta's new Superintelligence Lab discussed pivoting away from the company's powerful open-source AI model, Behemoth, and instead developing a closed model, reports The New York Times. Sources told The Times that Meta had completed training on Behemoth, but delayed its release due to underwhelming internal performance. When the new Superintelligence Lab launched, testing on the model reportedly halted. The discussions are just that — discussions. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg would still need to sign off on any changes, and a company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Meta's position on open source AI is 'unchanged.' 'We plan to continue releasing leading open source models,' the spokesperson said. 'We haven't released everything we've developed historically and we expect to continue training a mix of open and closed models going forward.' The spokesperson did not comment on Meta's potential shift away from Behemoth. If that happens so that Meta can prioritize closed-source models, it would mark a major philosophical change for the company. While Meta deploys more advanced closed-source models internally, like those powering its Meta AI assistant, Zuckerberg had made open source a central part of the company's external AI strategy — a way to keep AI development moving faster. He loudly positioned the Llama family's openness as a differentiator from competitors like OpenAI, which Zuckerberg publicly criticized for becoming more closed after partnering with Microsoft. But Meta is under pressure to monetize beyond ads as it pours billions into AI. That includes paying massive signing bonuses and nine-figure salaries to poach top researchers, building out new data centers, and covering the enormous costs of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), or 'superintelligence.' Despite having one of the top AI research labs in the world, Meta still lags behind rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and xAI when it comes to commercializing its AI work. If Meta prioritizes closed models, it could suggest that openness was a strategic play, not an ideological one. Past comments from Zuckerberg hint at an ambivalence toward committing to open sourcing Meta's models. On a podcast last summer, he said: We're obviously very pro open source, but I haven't committed to releasing every single thing that we do. I'm basically very inclined to think that open sourcing is going to be good for the community and also good for us because we'll benefit from the innovations. If at some point, however, there's some qualitative change in what the thing is capable of, and we feel like it's not responsible to open source it, then we won't. It's all very difficult to predict. Closed models would give Meta more control and more ways to monetize — especially if it believes the talent it has acquired can deliver competitive, best-in-class performance. Such a shift could also reshape the AI landscape. Open-source momentum, largely driven by Meta and models like Llama, could slow, even as OpenAI gears up to release its still-delayed open model. Power could swing back toward the major players with closed ecosystems, while open-source development might remain a product of grassroots efforts. The ripple effects would continue across the startup ecosystem, especially for smaller companies focused on fine-turning, safety, and model alignment that rely on access to open foundation models. On the world stage, Meta's retreat from open source could potentially cede ground to China, which has embraced open-source AI – like DeepSeek and Moonshot AI — as a way to build domestic capability and global influence. Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
TechCrunch
a day ago
- Business
- TechCrunch
Meta built its AI reputation on openness — that may be changing
Top members of Meta's new Superintelligence Lab discussed pivoting away from the company's powerful open-source AI model, Behemoth, and instead developing a closed model, reports The New York Times. Sources told The Times that Meta had completed training on Behemoth, but delayed its release due to underwhelming internal performance. When the new Superintelligence Lab launched, testing on the model reportedly halted. The discussions are just that – discussions. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg would still need to sign off on any changes, and a company spokesperson told TechCrunch that Meta's position on open source AI is 'unchanged.' 'We plan to continue releasing leading open source models,' the spokesperson said. 'We haven't released everything we've developed historically and we expect to continue training a mix of open and closed models going forward.' The spokesperson did not comment on Meta's potential shift away from Behemoth. If that happens so that Meta can prioritize closed-source models, it would mark a major philosophical change for the company. While Meta deploys more advanced closed-source models internally, like those powering its Meta AI assistant, Zuckerberg had made open source a central part of the company's external AI strategy — a way to keep AI development moving faster. He loudly positioned the Llama family's openness as a differentiator from competitors like OpenAI, which Zuckerberg publicly criticized for becoming more closed after partnering with Microsoft. But Meta is under pressure to monetize beyond ads as it pours billions into AI. That includes paying massive signing bonuses and nine-figure salaries to poach top researchers, building out new data centers, and covering the enormous costs of developing artificial general intelligence (AGI), or 'superintelligence.' Techcrunch event Save up to $475 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Save $450 on your TechCrunch All Stage pass Build smarter. Scale faster. Connect deeper. Join visionaries from Precursor Ventures, NEA, Index Ventures, Underscore VC, and beyond for a day packed with strategies, workshops, and meaningful connections. Boston, MA | REGISTER NOW Despite having one of the top AI research labs in the world, Meta still lags behind rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google DeepMind, and xAI when it comes to commercializing its AI work. If Meta prioritizes closed models, it could suggest that openness was a strategic play, not an ideological one. Past comments from Zuckerberg hint at an ambivalence toward committing to open sourcing Meta's models. On a podcast last summer, he said: 'We're obviously very pro open source, but I haven't committed to releasing every single thing that we do. I'm basically very inclined to think that open sourcing is going to be good for the community and also good for us because we'll benefit from the innovations. If at some point, however, there's some qualitative change in what the thing is capable of, and we feel like it's not responsible to open source it, then we won't. It's all very difficult to predict.' Closed models would give Meta more control and more ways to monetize – especially if it believes the talent it has acquired can deliver competitive, best-in-class performance. Such a shift could also reshape the AI landscape. Open-source momentum, largely driven by Meta and models like Llama, could slow, even as OpenAI gears up to release its still-delayed open model. Power could swing back toward the major players with closed ecosystems, while open-source development might remain a product of grassroots efforts. The ripple effects would continue across the startup ecosystem, especially for smaller companies focused on fine-turning, safety, and model alignment that rely on access to open foundation models. On the world stage, Meta's retreat from open source could potentially cede ground to China, which has embraced open-source AI – like DeepSeek and Moonshot AI – as a way to build domestic capability and global influence.
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's superintelligence lab considers shift to closed AI model
-- Meta (NASDAQ:META)'s newly formed superintelligence lab is discussing potential changes to the company's artificial intelligence strategy that could represent a major shift for the social media giant. A small group of top members of the lab, including 28-year-old Alexandr Wang, Meta's new chief A.I. officer, talked last week about abandoning the company's most powerful open source A.I. model, called Behemoth, in favor of developing a closed model, according to a report in the New York Times (NYSE:NYT), citing people familiar with the matter. Meta has traditionally open sourced its A.I. models, making the computer code public for other developers to build upon, and any shift toward a closed A.I. model would mark a significant philosophical change for Meta. Meta had completed training its Behemoth model by feeding in data to improve it, but delayed its release due to poor internal performance. After the company announced the formation of the superintelligence lab last month, teams working on the Behemoth model, which is considered a "frontier" model, stopped conducting new tests on it. The discussions within the superintelligence lab remain preliminary, and no decisions have been finalized. Any potential changes would require approval from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Related articles Meta's superintelligence lab considers shift to closed AI model - NYT After soaring 149%, this stock is back in our AI's favor - & already +25% in July Buy this massive AI stock into upcoming Q2 print: Morgan Stanley
