Mark Zuckerberg plans to build advanced AI, worrying experts

Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks during Meta Connect event at Meta headquarters in Menlo Park, California on September 27, 2023. (Photo by JOSH EDELSON/AFP via Getty Images)

Mark Zuckerberg wants to build advanced artificial intelligence, and some industry experts are raising concerns over his new project. 

The Meta CEO shared details in a Facebook post on his account Jan. 18 on producing the AI tools. 

"Our long term vision is to build general intelligence, open source it responsibly, and make it widely available so everyone can benefit. We're bringing our two major AI research efforts (FAIR and GenAI) closer together to support this." 

He said that his team is training its model Llama 3, and building a massive computer infrastructure, adding that he’s "really excited about our progress building new AI-centric computing devices like Ray Ban Meta smart glasses."

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Zuckeberg’s news comes after Meta released an open-source version of Llama 2, its large-language AI model in 2023. That same year, the company also launched Meta AI, a conversation assistant available on WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram, and it's a rival to OpenAI’s ChatGPT, the Hill reported. 

But some AI experts aren’t on board with Zuckerberg’s new endeavor. 

Wendy Hall, a UK-based computer scientist who serves on the United Nations’ AI advisory panel, told the Guardian that Zuckerberg’s plans were " very scary" given the possible risks of misuse.

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AI expert Andrew Rogoyski from the University of Surrey in England weighed in, stating that regulators, not Meta, should decide whether open-sourcing is safe, the New York Post reported. 

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Big tech companies like Google, Meta and Microsoft, and AI-focused startups like Open AI, have been leading the charge for innovative AI technology.

Last year, President Joe Biden signed an executive order for artificial intelligence development to ensure AI is helpful and not destructive, the Associated Press reported. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.