Meta delays "Behemoth" AI model release: report
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Meta is pushing back plans for a public release of its largest Llama 4 AI model, known as "Behemoth," because of concerns that it may not be enough of an advance on previous models, per a new Wall Street Journal report.
Why it matters: It's another indicator that the AI industry's scaling strategy — "just make everything bigger" — could be hitting a wall.
Driving the news: The Journal says that Behemoth is now expected to be released in the fall or even later. It was originally scheduled to coincide with Meta's Llamacon event last month, then later postponed till June.
- It's also possible the company could speed up a more limited Behemoth release.
The big picture: Meta is spending tens of billions of dollars on its AI projects, and till recently it had made fast progress catching up with rivals like Google and OpenAI.
Between the lines: Meta's disappointments mirror a broader worry inside the AI industry that progress dependent on scaling up models may be plateauing.
- OpenAI has faced well-documented hurdles in shipping an all-in-one next-generation large-scale model to follow GPT 4.0. Instead, the ChatGPT maker has rolled out a series of separate models, some specializing in reasoning and others in coding and technical work.
- Google and Anthropic have also reportedly encountered setbacks with their most recent efforts to train the largest models.
- Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Axios.
Editor's note: This story is breaking news and may be updated.
