How AI made Mark Zuckerberg popular again in Silicon Valley

After some trying years during which Zuckerberg could do little right, many developers and technologists have embraced the Meta chief as their champion of ‘open-source’ artificial intelligence. — Amanda Cotan/The New York Times

When Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, announced last year that his company would release an artificial intelligence system, Jeffrey Emanuel had reservations.

Emanuel, a part-time hacker and full-time AI enthusiast, had tinkered with “closed” AI models, including OpenAI’s, meaning the systems’ underlying code could not be accessed or modified. When Zuckerberg introduced Meta’s AI system by invitation only to a handful of academics, Emanuel was concerned that the technology would remain limited to just a small circle of people.