Llama hits 1 billion downloads as Meta leans into “open” AI

Meta announced that downloads of its Llama AI models have topped one billion, calling it a win for making powerful models broadly accessible to developers and researchers. The company positions Llama’s permissive availability as a catalyst for faster experimentation and real-world apps across startups, enterprises, and public-interest projects. The scale-up has been swift: CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted that Llama jumped from roughly 650 million downloads in December 2024 to one billion by mid-March. Meta later followed with Llama 4 releases in April and said adoption continued to climb. Meta frames the milestone as validation of its “open” model strategy—even as debates persist over licensing and governance in AI. The company says Llama’s growth reflects demand for flexible, production-ready models and an expanding ecosystem of tools and tutorials around them.