Meta Platforms announces release of Llama 3.1 405B open source AI model

Meta (META) announced the release of Llama 3.1 405B, the first frontier-level open source AI model, as well as new and improved Llama 3.1 70B and 8B models. “In addition to having significantly better cost/performance relative to closed models, the fact that the 405B model is open will make it the best choice for fine-tuning and distilling smaller models,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post. “Beyond releasing these models, we’re working with a range of companies to grow the broader ecosystem. Amazon (AMZN), Databricks, and Nvidia (NVDA) are launching full suites of services to support developers fine-tuning and distilling their own models.” Zuckerberg said Meta is “committed to open source AI.”