Meta is making it easier to use Llama models for app development

Meta is releasing a new tool it hopes will encourage developers to use its family of Llama models for their next project. At its inaugural LlamaCon event in Menlo Park on Tuesday, the company announced the Llama API. Available as a limited free preview starting today, the tool gives developers a place to experiment with Meta's AI models, including the recently released Llama 4 Scout and Maverick systems. It also makes it easy to create new API keys, which devs can use for authentication purposes.     

"We want to make it even easier for you to quickly start building with Llama, while also giving you complete control over your models and weights without being locked to an API," the company said in a blog post published during the event. To that end, the initial release of the Llama API includes tools devs can use to fine-tune and evaluate their apps.  

Additionally, Meta notes it won't use user prompts and model responses to train its own models. "When you’re ready, the models you build on the Llama API are yours to take with you wherever you want to host them, and we don’t keep them locked on our servers," the company said. Meta expects to roll out the tool to more users in coming weeks and months.  

Despite the fact Meta's Llama models have been downloaded more than one billion times, the company typically isn't viewed as a leader in the AI space in quite the same way as OpenAI and Anthropic. It doesn't help push against that perception that the company was caught gaming LMArena to make its Llama 4 models look better than they actually were.

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