Zuckerberg revealed that Meta is “planning for the compute clusters and data we’ll need for the next several years,” with a particular focus on their next AI model, Llama 4.

The company anticipates that training Llama 4 will require “almost 10x more” computing power than its predecessor, Llama 3, which is believed to have used 16,000 GPUs. Zuckerberg expressed his goal for Llama 4 “to be the most advanced [model] in the industry next year.”

Meta’s financial commitment to AI development is substantial, with the company projecting capital expenditures between $37 and $40 billion for the full year, an increase of $2 billion from previous estimates. Investors were cautioned to expect “significant” increases in capital expenditures next year as well.

Despite these massive investments, Meta CFO Susan Li acknowledged that the company does not expect to generate revenue from generative AI this year.

Li emphasised the company’s strategy of building AI infrastructure with flexibility in mind, allowing for capacity adjustments based on optimal use cases. She explained that the hardware used for AI model training can also be utilised for inferencing and, with modifications, for ranking and recommendations.

Meta’s current AI efforts, dubbed “Core AI,” are already showing positive results in improving user engagement on Facebook and Instagram. Zuckerberg highlighted the success of a recently implemented unified video recommendation tool for Facebook, which has “already increased engagement on Facebook Reels more than our initial move from CPUs to GPUs did.”

Looking ahead, Zuckerberg envisions AI playing a crucial role in revolutionising Meta’s advertising business. He predicted that in the coming years, AI would take over ad copy creation and personalisation, potentially allowing advertisers to simply provide a business objective and budget, with Meta’s AI handling the rest.

While Meta’s AI investments are substantial, the company remains in a strong financial position. Q2 results showed revenue of $39 billion and net income of $13.5 billion, representing year-over-year increases of $7 billion and $5.7 billion, respectively. Meta’s user base continues to grow, with over 3.2 billion people using a Meta app daily, and its X competitor Threads is now approaching 200 million active monthly users.

As Meta charts its course in the AI landscape, the company’s strategy reflects a long-term vision that prioritises technological advancement and infrastructure development over immediate financial returns.

(Photo by Joshua Earle)

See also: NVIDIA and Meta CEOs: Every business will ‘have an AI’

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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The conversation began with Zuckerberg announcing the launch of AI Studio, a new platform designed to democratise AI creation. This tool allows users to create, share, and discover AI characters, potentially opening up AI development to millions of creators and small businesses.

Huang emphasised the ubiquity of AI in the future, stating, “Every single restaurant, every single website will probably, in the future, have these AIs …”

Zuckerberg concurred, adding, “…just like every business has an email address and a website and a social media account, I think, in the future, every business is going to have an AI.”

This vision aligns with NVIDIA’s recent developments showcased at SIGGRAPH. The company previewed “James,” an interactive digital human based on the NVIDIA ACE (Avatar Cloud Engine) reference design. James – a virtual assistant capable of providing contextually accurate responses – demonstrates the potential for businesses to create custom, hyperrealistic avatars for customer interactions.

The discussion highlighted Meta’s significant contributions to AI development. Huang praised Meta’s work, saying, “You guys have done amazing AI work,” and cited advancements in computer vision, language models, and real-time translation. He also acknowledged the widespread use of PyTorch, an open-source machine learning framework developed by Meta.

Both CEOs stressed the importance of open source in advancing AI. Meta has positioned itself as a leader in this field, implementing AI across its platforms and releasing open-source models like Llama 3.1. This latest model, with 405 billion parameters, required training on over 16,000 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, representing a substantial investment in resources.

Zuckerberg shared his vision for more integrated AI models, saying, “I kind of dream of one day like you can almost imagine all of Facebook or Instagram being like a single AI model that has unified all these different content types and systems together.” He believes that collaboration is crucial for further advancements in AI.

The conversation touched on the potential of AI to enhance human productivity. Huang described a future where AI could generate images in real-time as users type, allowing for fluid collaboration between humans and AI assistants. This concept is reflected in NVIDIA’s latest advancements to the NVIDIA Maxine AI platform, including Maxine 3D and Audio2Face-2D, which aim to create immersive telepresence experiences.

Looking ahead, Zuckerberg expressed enthusiasm about combining AI with augmented reality eyewear, mentioning Meta’s collaboration with eyewear maker Luxottica. He envisions this technology transforming education, entertainment, and work.

Huang discussed the evolution of AI interactions, moving beyond turn-based conversations to more complex, multi-option simulations. “Today’s AI is kind of turn-based. You say something, it says something back to you,” Huang explained. “In the future, AI could contemplate multiple options, or come up with a tree of options and simulate outcomes, making it much more powerful.”

The importance of this evolution is evident in the adoption of NVIDIA’s technologies by companies across industries. HTC, Looking Glass, Reply, and UneeQ are among the latest firms using NVIDIA ACE and Maxine for applications ranging from customer service agents to telepresence experiences in entertainment, retail, and hospitality.

As AI continues to evolve and integrate into various aspects of our lives, the insights shared by these industry leaders provide a glimpse into a future where AI assistants are as commonplace as websites and social media accounts.

The developments showcased at SIGGRAPH 2024 by both NVIDIA and other companies demonstrate that this future is rapidly approaching, with digital humans becoming increasingly sophisticated and capable of natural, engaging interactions.

See also: Amazon strives to outpace Nvidia with cheaper, faster AI chips

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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The Llama 3.1 release includes three models: 405B, 70B, and 8B. Zuckerberg asserts that the 405B model competes with the most advanced closed models while offering better cost-efficiency.

“Starting next year, we expect future Llama models to become the most advanced in the industry,” Zuckerberg predicts.

Zuckerberg draws parallels between the evolution of AI and the historical shift from closed Unix systems to open source Linux. He argues that open source AI will follow a similar trajectory, eventually becoming the industry standard due to its adaptability, cost-effectiveness, and broad ecosystem support.

Zuckerberg emphasises several key advantages of open source AI:

• Customisation: Organisations can train and fine-tune models with their specific data.
• Independence: Avoids lock-in to closed vendors or specific cloud providers.
• Data security: Allows for local model deployment, enhancing data protection.
• Cost-efficiency: Llama 3.1 405B can be run at roughly half the cost of closed models like GPT-4.
• Ecosystem growth: Encourages innovation and collaboration across the industry.

Addressing safety concerns, Zuckerberg argues that open source AI is inherently safer due to increased transparency and scrutiny. He states, “Open source should be significantly safer since the systems are more transparent and can be widely scrutinised.”

To support the open source AI ecosystem, Meta is partnering with major tech companies like Amazon, Databricks, and NVIDIA to provide development services. The models will be available across major cloud platforms, with companies such as Scale.AI, Dell, and Deloitte ready to assist in enterprise adoption.

“Open source will ensure that more people around the world have access to the benefits and opportunities of AI, that power isn’t concentrated in the hands of a small number of companies, and that the technology can be deployed more evenly and safely across society,” Zuckerberg claims.

The CEO views this release as a turning point, predicting that most developers will shift towards primarily using open source AI models. He invites the tech community to join Meta in “this journey to bring the benefits of AI to everyone in the world.”

The Llama 3.1 models are now accessible at llama.meta.com.

(Photo by Dima Solomin)

See also: Meta joins Apple in withholding AI models from EU users

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The comprehensive event is co-located with other leading events including Intelligent Automation Conference, BlockX, Digital Transformation Week, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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The meeting included discussions about new products, such as chatbots for Messenger and WhatsApp that can converse with different personas. Additionally, Meta announced new features for Instagram, including the ability to modify user photos via text prompts and create emoji stickers for messaging services.

These developments come at a crucial time for Meta, as the company has faced financial struggles and an identity crisis in recent years. Investors criticised Meta for focusing too heavily on its metaverse ambitions and not paying enough attention to AI.

Meta’s decision to focus on AI tools follows in the footsteps of its competitors, including Google, Microsoft, and Snapchat, who have received significant investor attention for their generative AI products. Unlike the aforementioned rivals, Meta is yet to release any consumer-facing generative AI products.

To address this gap, Meta has been reorganising its AI divisions and investing heavily in infrastructure to support its AI product needs.

Zuckerberg expressed optimism during the company meeting, stating that advancements in generative AI have made it possible to integrate the technology into “every single one” of Meta’s products. This signifies Meta’s intention to leverage AI across its platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

In addition to consumer-facing tools, Meta also announced a productivity assistant called Metamate for its employees. This assistant is designed to answer queries and perform tasks based on internal company information.

Meta is also exploring open-source models, allowing users to build their own AI-powered chatbots and technologies. However, critics and competitors have raised concerns about the potential misuse of these tools, as they can be utilised to spread misinformation and hate speech on a larger scale.

Zuckerberg addressed these concerns during the meeting, emphasising the value of democratising access to AI. He expressed hope that users would be able to develop AI programs independently in the future, without relying on frameworks provided by a few large technology companies.

Despite the increased focus on AI, Zuckerberg reassured employees that Meta would not be abandoning its plans for the metaverse, indicating that both AI and the metaverse would remain key areas of focus for the company.

The success of these endeavours will determine whether Meta can catch up with its competitors and solidify its position among tech leaders in the rapidly-evolving landscape.

(Photo by Mariia Shalabaieva on Unsplash)

Related: Meta’s open-source speech AI models support over 1,100 languages

Want to learn more about AI and big data from industry leaders? Check out AI & Big Data Expo taking place in Amsterdam, California, and London. The event is co-located with Digital Transformation Week.

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Facebook has had a particularly rough time as of late, with a series of Wall Street Journal reports in particular claiming the company knows that “its platforms are riddled with flaws that cause harm” and “despite congressional hearings, its own pledges and numerous media exposés, the company didn’t fix them”.

Some of the allegations include:

• An algorithm change made Facebook an “angrier” place and CEO Mark Zuckerberg resisted suggested fixes because “they would lead people to interact with Facebook less”
• Employees flag human traffickers, drug cartels, organ sellers, and more but the response is “inadequate or nothing at all”
• Facebook’s tools were used to sow doubt about the severity of Covid-19’s threat and the safety of vaccines
• The company’s own engineers have doubts about Facebook’s public claim that AI will clean up the platform.
• Facebook knows Instagram is especially toxic for teen girls
• A “secret elite” are exempt from the rules

The reports come predominantly from whistleblower Frances Haugen who grabbed “tens of thousands” of pages of documents from Facebook, plans to testify to Congress, and has filed at least eight SEC complaints claiming that Facebook lied to shareholders about its own products.

It makes you wonder whether former British Deputy PM Nick Clegg knew just how much he’d be taking on when he became Facebook’s VP for Global Affairs and Communications.

Over the weekend, Clegg released a blog post but instead chose to focus on Facebook’s plan to hire 10,000 Europeans to help build its vision for the metaverse—a suspiciously timed announcement that many believe was aimed to counter the negative news.

However, Facebook didn’t avoid the media reports. Guy Rosen, VP of Integrity at Facebook, also released a blog post over the weekend titled Hate Speech Prevalence Has Dropped by Almost 50% on Facebook.

According to Facebook’s post, hate speech prevalence has dropped 50 percent over the last three quarters:

When the company began reporting on hate speech metrics, just 23.6 percent of removed content was proactively detected by its systems. Facebook claims that number is now over 97 percent and there are now just five views of hate speech for every 10,000 content views on Facebook.

“Data pulled from leaked documents is being used to create a narrative that the technology we use to fight hate speech is inadequate and that we deliberately misrepresent our progress,” Rosen said. “This is not true.”

One of the reports found that Facebook’s AI couldn’t identify first-person shooting videos, racist rants, and couldn’t separate cockfighting from car crashes in one specific incident. Haugen claims the company only takes action on 3-5 percent of hate and 0.6 percent of violence and incitement content. 

In the latest exposé from the WSJ published on Sunday, Facebook employees told the outlet they don’t believe the company is capable of screening for offensive content. Employees claim that Facebook switched to largely using AI enforcement of the platform’s regulations around two years ago, which served to inflate the apparent success of its moderation tech in public statistics.

Clegg has called the WSJ’s reports “deliberate mischaracterisations” that use quotes from leaked material to create “a deliberately lop-sided view of the wider facts.”

Few people underestimate the challenge that a platform like Facebook has in catching hateful content and misinformation across billions of users – and doing so in a way that doesn’t suppress free speech – but the company doesn’t appear to be helping itself in overpromising what its AI systems can do and, reportedly, even willfully ignoring fixes to known problems over concerns they would reduce engagement.

(Photo by Prateek Katyal on Unsplash)

Find out more about Digital Transformation Week North America, taking place on 9-10 November 2021, a virtual event and conference exploring advanced DTX strategies for a ‘digital everything’ world.

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Last month, Facebook refused to remove a deepfake video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Rather than making Pelosi appear to say things she never did, the video aimed to portray her as being intoxicated.

Deepfakes have the potential to spread misinformation and damage the reputation of individuals. Particularly in the world of politics and increasingly sophisticated state disinformation campaigns, it’s easy to imagine the danger they pose.

Pelosi later told California’s KQED: “I think they have proven — by not taking down something they know is false — that they were willing enablers of the Russian interference in our election.”

Governments and activists have called on social networks to assist in the detection and deletion of such videos. Now it seems that campaigners are targeting social network executives with deepfakes in a bid to make them take such videos more seriously.

In the deepfake of Zuckerberg, the Facebook CEO is portrayed to say: “Imagine this for a second: One man, with total control of billions of people’s stolen data, all their secrets, their lives, their futures.”

Fortunately for Zuckerberg, the deepfake is not malicious and most people will know it’s not real. The video both helps to make social networks assist more in tackling deepfakes while also raising public awareness.

Society is going through a period of serious change when it comes to knowing what’s real and fake. Many now question what they read because anyone could have written it and the issue of fake news is well-publicised. Most people, however, are still accustomed to believing that someone is saying what they are when they can see them doing it.

Zuckerberg’s deepfake was created Israeli startup Canny AI. The firm has also debuted fake videos with the likes of President Trump and Kim Kardashian as part of a commissioned art installation called Spectre that was on display at the Sheffield Doc/Fest in the UK.

Interested in hearing industry leaders discuss subjects like this and their use cases? Attend the co-located AI & Big Data Expo events with upcoming shows in Silicon Valley, London, and Amsterdam to learn more. Co-located with the IoT Tech Expo, Blockchain Expo, and Cyber Security & Cloud Expo.

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