--- title: "Facebook Has Crowbarred Open the Pandora’s Box of AI, Experts Warn" description: "According to a report from The New York Times, Meta-formerly-Facebook is doubling down on its decision to make its AI model open-source." date: "2023-05-19" modified: "2023-05-19" authors: - name: "Maggie Harrison Dupré" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/mharrison" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/facebook-open-source-ai-pandoras-box" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Meta" tags: - "ai" - "facebook" - "Meta" - "the digest" --- # Facebook Has Crowbarred Open the Pandora’s Box of AI, Experts Warn ![]() *\Image: Getty / Futurism\* ## Open Sesame! Meta is cracking the AI arms race wide open. Literally. According to a [report from *The New York Times*](), Meta-formerly-Facebook is doubling down on its decision to make its large language model called LLaMA (Large Language Model Meta AI) — which competes with the likes of OpenAI's GPT-4 — open source. "The platform that will win will be the open one," Yann LeCun, Meta's chief AI scientist, told the *NYT*, adding that he believes keeping powerful models behind closed doors is a "huge mistake." It's a remarkably different strategy compared to those of Meta's competitors Google, Microsoft, and OpenAI, which have argued that due to the potential for large-scale misuse, society is safer when the metaphorical Krabby Patty Formula is kept behind closed doors. But according to LeCun, that code-hoarding strategy is dangerous and a "really bad take on what is happening." "Do you want every AI system to be under the control of a couple of powerful American companies?" LeCun told the *NYT.* ## No Good Option As the *NYT* points out, Meta began to dip its toes into the open-source waters [back in February](), when it made the underlying code for its advanced large language model available for download via email to anyone that Meta deemed safe. The code, however, was [leaked to 4Chan]() almost immediately. In an experiment, researchers at Stanford used the renegade LLM to build an AI system to capture how it behaved. But they were shocked to find that it was able to generate some seriously problematic text. Stanford researcher Moussa Doumbouya reportedly told colleagues that making this technology widely available would be like making "a grenade available to everyone in a grocery store," according to the *NYT*. LeCun, for his part, seems to disagree with that conclusion. "You can't prevent people from creating nonsense or dangerous information or whatever," LeCun told the *NYT*. "But you can stop it from being disseminated." "Progress is faster when it is open," he added. "You have a more vibrant ecosystem where everyone can contribute." But considering that at-scale content moderation is [imperfect enough as it is]() even *without* generative AI, LeCun's argument isn't exactly bulletproof. Whether Meta's open-source — or OpenAI and Microsoft's secrecy — approach will turn out to be the winning strategy remains to be seen. As the AI war is really starting to heat up, companies are drawing their lines in the sand — and the stakes are higher than ever before. **More on AI:** [*Man Uses AI to Write 97 Terrible Books, Sells $2,000 Worth*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've reported extensively on the rise of AI as a cultural and business force shaping the media industry, and more broadly how those dynamics are changing how we all consume and share information and relate to one another. I'm also fascinated by public health policy and ethics, the role of emerging tech in politics and governance — and the powerful people and forces at those intersections — climate change, and the environment. My investigation on Sports Illustrated's use of AI-generated authors with fictional biographies won a 2024 Mirror Award for "Best Story on Media Coverage of Artificial Intelligence in Journalism and the Media" from Syracuse University's SI Newhouse School, I contributed to Niemen Lab's 2025 Predictions for Journalism series, and I've discussed my work for Futurism during appearances on NPR, CNN, the BBC, the CBC, and more. I grew up in rural Pennsylvania and attended the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where I played Division I field hockey for the Minutewomen as a midfielder. Since then, I've lived in New Orleans, Louisiana and Manhattan, New York. I spend my free time running, reading, perusing archival fashion, and searching for the world’s best negroni. I also have a debonair tuxedo cat, Westley, who's named after "The Princess Bride." ### Author social links [Bluesky]()