Meta is “working with the public sector to adopt Llama across the US government,” according to CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The comment, made during his opening remarks for Meta’s Q3 earnings call on Wednesday, raises a lot of important questions: Exactly which parts of the government will use Meta’s AI models? What will the AI be used for? Will there be any kind of military-specific applications of Llama? Is Meta getting paid for any of this?
When I asked Meta to elaborate, spokesperson Faith Eischen told me via email that “we’ve partnered with the US State Department to see how Llama could help address different challenges — from expanding access to safe water and reliable electricity, to helping support small businesses.” She also said the company has “been in touch with the Department of Education to learn how Llama could help make the financial aid process more user friendly for students and are in discussions with others about how Llama could be utilized to benefit the government.”
She added that there was “no payment involved” in these partnerships.
yeah fck them, for now until the government relies on their AI
"No payment involved" sounds a lot like "Our control over your processes is payment enough."
And/or "Our sucking up private government data for sale to foreign powers."