On Tuesday, Meta Platforms announced an application programming interface (API) in an effort to attract businesses to more easily build AI products utilizing its Llama artificial intelligence (AI) models.
The Llama API, unveiled during the company’s inaugural AI developer conference, will position Meta to compete against APIs offered by rival model developers, including Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google, and emerging low-cost alternatives such as China’s DeepSeek.
“You can now begin using Llama with a single line of code,” stated chief product officer Chris Cox during a keynote address on stage.
APIs enable software developers to customize and rapidly integrate a piece of technology into their own products. For OpenAI, APIs represent the firm’s primary revenue stream.
Meta, which released the latest iteration of Llama earlier this month, did not disclose any pricing details for the API. In a press release, the company indicated that the new API was available as a limited preview for select customers and would be broadly rolled out in the coming weeks to months.
The company also launched a standalone AI assistant app earlier on Tuesday. It intends to test a paid subscription service for its AI chatbot in the second quarter, Reuters reported in February.
Meta releases its Llama models largely free of charge for use by developers, a strategy that CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously stated will yield benefits in the form of innovative products, reduced reliance on potential competitors, and increased engagement on the company’s core social networks.
“You have complete control over these custom models; you manage them in a way that is not feasible with other offerings,” said Manohar Paluri, a vice president of AI, at the conference. “Whatever model you customize is yours to take wherever you wish, not confined to our servers.”
DeepSeek, which has also released partially open-source AI models, triggered a stock selloff in January amid concerns regarding the substantial costs of AI development required by leading U.S. firms.
At the conference, Meta developers discussed novel techniques they employed to significantly decrease costs and enhance the efficiency of its newest Llama version. Zuckerberg welcomed increased competition, which he believes will steer the competitive ecosystem away from dominance by a small number of leaders.
“If another model, such as DeepSeek, excels in a particular area, then now as developers, you possess the capability to integrate the best aspects of intelligence from different models and produce precisely what you need, which I anticipate will be very powerful,” Zuckerberg remarked.
