Meta is doubling down on generative AI, a rapidly evolving field where competitors like OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are already making major efforts. Adding to its existing efforts, the social media powerhouse has now announced its first-ever developer conference focused on generative AI – LlamaCon. Hosting a dedicated event suggests Meta wants to highlight its advancements and maintain a competitive edge.
The event’s name, ‘LlamaCon,’ ties directly to its Llama (Large Language Model Meta AI) family, emphasizing Meta’s commitment to open-source AI and its role in the broader AI ecosystem.
Notably, this developers’ conference is going to happen on April 29, 2025. April is well before the annual Meta Connect event in September, suggesting Meta wants to separate its AI narrative from broader product updates (like VR/AR and the metaverse).
Speaking of the significance, by engaging directly with developers, Meta aims to grow its AI ecosystem – encouraging third parties to build apps and services using its models. This could also help drive innovation within Meta’s own platforms, including Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp & Threads, by enabling new AI-powered experiences.
“At LlamaCon, we’ll share the latest on our open-source AI developments to help developers do what they do best: build amazing apps and products, whether as a start-up or at scale,” the company said in its statement.
Meta Platforms, led by CEO Mark Zuckerberg, is intensifying its AI development efforts in response to the rapid advancements of Chinese AI startup DeepSeek. DeepSeek has introduced a highly efficient AI model, DeepSeek-R1, that challenges established tech giants by delivering comparable performance at a fraction of the traditional cost. This development has prompted Meta to accelerate its AI initiatives, particularly focusing on its open-source Llama project.
Meanwhile, the upcoming release of Llama 4, expected in early 2025, aims to enhance capabilities in modalities, reasoning, and performance. In fact last month, Mark Zuckerberg announced that Meta will invest around $65 billion to boost its artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure this year.
The social media giant will allocate this investment mainly for the development of a more than 2 Gigawatt (2GW+) data centre and the expansion of its AI team. Meta’s CEO also termed 2025 as “a defining year for AI.” Talking about users’s stats, Meta AI has over 600 million monthly active users.
