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Meta's open AI hardware vision

(engineering.fb.com)
240 points GavCo | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 18:08 UTC | HN request time: 0.209s | source
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jameslk ◴[15 Oct 24 18:25 UTC] No.41851534[source]▶
That title is most definitely a swipe at OpenAI. It seems there’s a theme of two types of platform companies: the closed one that has the “premium” platform, and the open one that gets market share by commodifying the platform.

macOS vs Windows

iOS vs Android

OpenAI vs Meta AI?

Edit: Another observation is Meta seems to open things defensively. Facebook had a rich developer platform until Facebook stopped needing to grab market share. Meta’s VR platform was closed until Apple challenged them with Vision Pro. Then Meta announced open sourcing Horizon OS. I wonder if Meta will truly keep things open if they win, or if it’s more like a case of EEE?

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jsheard ◴[15 Oct 24 18:50 UTC] No.41851829[source]▶
Windows and Android took the commodity approach but they always had a business model, while Meta AI is currently running on Underpants Gnomes economics.

1. Spend billions on a product, then give it away for free.

2. ???

3. Profit!

> Then Meta announced open sourcing Horizon OS.

Open sourcing isn't really the right term, they're allowing third party hardware vendors to use it but it's still proprietary. Horizon OS is built on top of Android and they're following the Android playbook where the core is technically open source but the version nearly everyone actually uses has a bunch of proprietary Google (or Meta) software layered on top, and Google (or Meta) dictates the terms of using that software, which lets them ensure that revenue always flows back to Google (or Meta) regardless of who made the hardware.

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1. tim333 ◴[16 Oct 24 17:20 UTC] No.41861482[source]▶
To quote Zuck:

>Why Open Source AI Is Good for Meta

>Meta’s business model is about building the best experiences and services for people. To do this, we must ensure that we always have access to the best technology, and that we’re not locking into a competitor’s closed ecosystem where they can restrict what we build.

I guess that would translate to

1. Spend billions on AI, give away open source version

2. Use AI to get people to click on ads in their "best experiences and services for people"

3. $39bn profit in 2023

It's a bit like the real Underpant Gnomes business. Phase gnomes one collect underpants. Phase two Parker and Stone sign a $900m deal with Paramount. The money is made by an associated business.