Meta's apparent generosity with its Llama AI model is underpinned by a well-crafted business strategy. A court document reveals that Mark Zuckerberg's company shares the revenue generated by companies hosting its AI models.
The tech giant has positioned the Llama model as a leader in the generative AI race. In contrast to competitors like OpenAI and Google, Meta has adopted an open-source approach that has achieved over a billion downloads. However, this strategy conceals a more complex reality than what is publicly presented.
A recently uncovered court document in the Kadrey v. Meta case indicates that the company "shares a percentage of the revenue" generated by companies hosting its Llama models. This revelation directly contradicts Mark Zuckerberg’s previous statements claiming that "selling access" to Llama models is "not [the] business model" of Meta. The extraordinary popularity of Llama, with its billion downloads, serves as a powerful lever for this approach. As Meta plans to significantly increase its AI investments, these revelations highlight the necessity to diversify revenue sources.
