The Open Source Strategy
Llama isn’t charity — it’s a strategic weapon. By open-sourcing weights, Meta commoditizes the model layer, undermines competitors’ moats, builds ecosystem lock-in, and ensures infrastructure becomes the differentiation point.
The Llama Family
| Product | Details |
|---|---|
| Llama 4 | Multimodal (text, image, video), multiple size variants, open weights |
| Meta AI | 1B+ monthly active users, embedded across all apps, 20B+ images created |
| Business Applications | Advantage+ Ads ($60B), Reels ($50B+), Business AI (1B+ threads) |
AI already drives $100B+ revenue
Why Open Source? Four Strategic Reasons
1. Commoditize Models
If models are free, competitors can’t charge for them. Undermines OpenAI’s business model.
2. Build Ecosystem
Developers build on Llama. When they need scale, they come to Meta’s infrastructure.
3. Shift Value Down
If models commoditize, value shifts to infra. Meta owns the infra. Infrastructure is the moat.
4. Talent Attraction
Top AI researchers want to publish, want open work. Meta offers research + deployment.
The Architecture Evolution
- Before: Hundreds of specialized models
- Now: Three Giant Transformers (Facebook, Instagram, Ads)
- Future: Single Unified AI — one system, trillions of daily decisions
This is part of a comprehensive analysis. Read the full analysis on The Business Engineer.









