Alibaba’s cloud computing division said it’s the first Chinese enterprise to support Meta’s open-source artificial intelligence model, Llama, which allows business users to develop programs.
In a statement published on its WeChat account on Tuesday, Alibaba Cloud said it has launched the first training and deployment solution for the entire Llama2 series, welcoming developers in China to create customized large models on Alibaba Cloud.
Llama2 is a commercial version of Llama, released by Meta this month intended to provide business users a free-of-charge open-source AI model that serves as an alternative to pricey versions sold by OpenAI and Google.
The advancement is opening up an opportunity for China-based Alibaba to meet its AI ambitions amid U.S. restrictions directed toward Chinese companies gaining access to U.S.-developed technologies. For Meta, the move is expected to create a turnaround in its frosty relations with China, which has banned the Facebook social media platform operating in the Northeast Asian country for years.
Alibaba is trying to gain the upper hand in the country’s AI market, which is projected to exceed US$ 26 billion by 2026, according to IDC forecast. Earlier this month, the Chinese tech giant entered a cooperation agreement with China’s eastern Zhejiang, its home province to develop AI and the digital economy. The endorsement signified a change in the Chinese government’s attitude towards Alibaba, which endured the state’s regulatory moves since 2020.
Despite the major transformations with its reshuffle slated for September and announcements made in March to split the group into six smaller units, Alibaba is making strides by increasing its tech prowess overseas.
Alibaba has reportedly invested an additional US$ 845.44 million in its Southeast Asia e-commerce unit and Singapore subsidiary, Lazada, a move that’ll fuel competition against Singapore-based Sea Group’s Shopee and ByteDance’s short-form video TikTok’s TikTok Shop.
Lazada leverages Alibaba’s resources in technology R&D and logistics and works closely with the Chinese e-commerce giant. Lazada aims to increase the number of users in Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia from the current 160 million to 300 million by 2030.