Alibaba’s cloud unit brings Meta’s AI model Llama to its clients

Alibaba’s cloud computing division, (9988.HK), announced that it has become the first Chinese enterprise to support Meta’s (META.O) open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model Llama. This allows Chinese business users to develop programs using the Llama model. Meta recently released Llama2, a commercial version of Llama, as a free alternative to expensive proprietary models sold by OpenAI and Google. While Microsoft (MSFT.O) is Meta’s preferred partner for Llama2, it is also available through other partners. Alibaba Cloud stated that it has launched the first training and deployment solution for the entire Llama2 series in China, inviting developers to create customized large models on Alibaba Cloud. This partnership with Meta could bring loyal customers to Alibaba’s cloud business, which is facing increased competition and planning a stock market listing. Additionally, it allows Alibaba to stay up-to-date with the latest AI technology developments. For Meta, this collaboration could establish closer ties with the second-largest economy in the world, as its Facebook platform is banned in China. China has been striving to catch up with the US in AI development, encouraging Chinese companies to create their own AI models that can rival those developed by US companies. Alibaba and other Chinese tech giants like Tencent Holdings (0700.HK) have been actively developing their own AI models. Llama2 is a large machine learning model, similar to OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Bard, trained on extensive data to generate coherent and natural-sounding outputs. According to Meta, companies with fewer than 700 million monthly active users can use Llama2 for free, while those with more users will require a license. Alibaba also emphasized that if a client wants to use Llama2 to provide services to the Chinese public, they must comply with Chinese laws and avoid any practices or content that may harm the country.