The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Meta is releasing a commercial version of its open-source artificial intelligence model Llama, providing a powerful free-of-charge alternative to pricey proprietary models sold by OpenAI and Alphabet's Google. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe reports that the new version of the model, called Llama 2, will be distributed by Microsoft through its Azure cloud service and will run on the Windows operating system, Meta said in a blog post, referring to Microsoft as "our preferred partner" for the release. The model, which Meta previously provided only to select academics for research purposes, also will be made available via direct download and through Amazon Web Services, Hugging Face and other providers, according to the blog post and a separate Facebook post by Meta chief executive officer Mark Zuckerberg. Mr. Zuckerberg wrote: "Open source drives innovation because it enables many more developers to build with new technology. I believe it would unlock more progress if the ecosystem were more open." For Meta, a flourishing open-source ecosystem of AI tech built using its models could stymie rivals' plans to earn revenue off their proprietary technology.