Meta Unveils More Cautious Approach to ChatGPT Frenzy

A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
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Meta Unveils More Cautious Approach to ChatGPT Frenzy

A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier
A logo of Meta Platforms Inc. is seen at its booth, at the Viva Technology conference dedicated to innovation and startups, at Porte de Versailles exhibition center in Paris, France June 17, 2022. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

Facebook-owner Meta on Friday unveiled its own version of the artificial intelligence behind apps such as ChatGPT, saying it would give access to researchers to find fixes to the technology's potential dangers.

Meta described its own AI, called LLaMA, as a "smaller, more performant" model designed to "help researchers advance their work," in what could be seen as veiled criticism of Microsoft's decision to release the technology widely, while keeping the programming code secret.

Microsoft-backed ChatGPT has taken the world by storm with its ability to generate finely crafted texts such as essays or poems in just seconds using technology known as large language models (or LLM).

LLM is part of a field known as generative AI that also includes the capacity to execute images, designs or programming code almost instantaneously upon a simple request.

Usually the more staid actor in big tech, Microsoft has deepened its partnership with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, and earlier this month announced the technology would be integrated into its Bing search engine as well as the Edge browser.

Google, seeing a sudden threat to the dominance of its search engine, quickly announced it would release its own language AI, known as Bard, shortly, AFP reported.

But reports of disturbing exchanges with Microsoft's Bing chatbot -- including it issuing threats and speaking of desires to steal nuclear code or lure one user from his wife -- went viral, raising alarm bells that the technology was not ready.

Meta said these problems, sometimes called hallucinations, could be better remedied if researchers had improved access to the expensive technology.

Thorough research "remains limited because of the resources that are required to train and run such large models," the company said.

This was hindering efforts "to improve their robustness and mitigate known issues, such as bias, toxicity, and the potential for generating misinformation," Meta said.

OpenAI and Microsoft strictly limit access to the technology behind their chatbots, drawing criticism that they are choosing potential profits over improving the technology more quickly for society.

"By sharing the code for LLaMA, other researchers can more easily test new approaches to limiting or eliminating these problems," Meta said.



Google to Open Second Data Center in Latin America, to Invest Over $850 Mln 

The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)
The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)
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Google to Open Second Data Center in Latin America, to Invest Over $850 Mln 

The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)
The president of Google Cloud for Latin America, Eduardo Lopez, participates in the inauguration of the Google Data Center works, on the premises of the Science Park, in Canelones, Uruguay 29 August 2024. (EPA)

Alphabet's Google said on Thursday it will open its second data center in Latin America in the Uruguayan city of Canelones and invest more than $850 million in it.

Google opened its first data center in Latin America in Quilicura, which is near Santiago, the capital city of Chile, in 2015. It invested an initial amount of $150 million in the data center and spent an additional $140 million in 2018 for expansion.

"We hope our new data center in Canelones will be a significant contribution to the professional and technological development of Uruguay and the entire region," Google said in a blog post.

Reuters reported on Thursday that Google is considering building a "hyperscale" data center close to Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam and that the center would be ready in 2027.

In April, Google announced a $3 billion investment to set up a data center campus in Indiana and expand sites in Virginia. Google also said in May that it will invest $2 billion in Malaysia to develop its first data center and Google Cloud region in the country.