FILE PHOTO: A Meta logo is pictured at a trade fair in Hannover Messe, in Hanover, Germany, April 22, 2024. REUTERS/Annegret Hilse/File Photo
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. government agencies will be able to use Meta Platforms' artificial intelligence system Llama, a senior administration official said, as the Trump administration pushes to integrate commercial AI tools into government operations.
The General Services Administration, the government's purchasing arm, will add Llama to its list of approved AI tools for federal agencies, said Josh Gruenbaum, the GSA's procurement lead, in an interview ahead of announcing the initiative.
Agencies will then be able to experiment with Llama, a free tool, with GSA's assurance that it meets the government's security and legal standards.
Llama is a large language model capable of processing data, including text, video, images and audio.
GSA has also signed off in recent months on AI tools from Meta's competitors, including Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic and Open AI. The companies agreed to sell their paid products at steep discounts and meet the government's security requirements, GSA has said.
"It's not about currying favor," Gruenbaum said when asked whether tech executives are giving the government discounts to get President Donald Trump's approval. "It's about that recognition of how do we all lock in arms and make this country the best country it could possibly be."
Federal agencies will be able to deploy the tool to speed up contract review or more quickly solve information technology hiccups, among other tasks, he said.
(Reporting by Courtney Rozen; Editing by Richard Chang and William Mallard)
