Does OpenAI have a sustainable business model? ChatGPT usage is down (from its initial astronomical numbers), but – more importantly – by the numbers, the power users are engineers. When it comes to coding, GPT-4 makes good engineers great and it makes bad engineers better.

Last week, Meta (META) launched Code Llama: an open source, AI model specifically fine-tuned for coding tasks. This is interesting as the bulk of GPT-4’s commercial power users now have a free alternative. Code Llama comes in various sizes (7B, 13B, and 34B parameters) and can be configured to run in a wide range of computational environments. It can generate code in multiple languages – including Python, Java, JavaScript, C#, and Bash – and it’s available for both research and commercial use.

Beyond code generation, Code Llama can explain code in natural language, serving as a tool for software developers. Additionally, it can be embedded in business applications to auto-generate and execute code snippets based on natural language prompts.

In terms of performance, Meta’s research positions Code Llama ahead of GPT-3.5 on multiple code benchmarks. Independent tests by Snowflake (SNOW) and AI startup Phind further validate its capabilities, with some results nearing GPT-4 performance in specific tasks.

Is Code Llama a threat to OpenAI? Just remember: “free” is very pro consumer!

More By This Author:

ChatGPT: The Next Big Thing In Education?
OpenAI’s Copyright Defense
Apple To Announce iPhone 15: Key Rumors And The Curious Case Of Missing AI