Meta is reportedly considering plans to ditch its open-source Behemoth model for a private one. According to sources in the NY Times, senior members of the team, including the freshly recruited chief AI officer Alexandr Wang met last week to discuss pausing the release of its most advanced public model, Behemoth.
According to the sources, the focus of the meeting was to discuss a proprietary version. Meta always makes its AI code public so developers can build on it. The company argues that sharing openly speeds up progress and gives more people access to powerful tools. However, switching to a private model will be a big change for the company, considering developers have always praised it for its open-source approach.
Plans to ditch open-source Behemoth being considered
Last year, Yann LeCun, one of the top researchers at the company mentioned that ‘the platform that will win will be the open one.’ Earlier this year, Chinese firm DeepSeek used the company’s public code to create its AI chatbot, showing the importance of openness. Following the inauguration of its superintelligence division last month, the Behemoth project considered a “frontier” effort at the leading edge of AI development, was put on hold pending further review.
These talks are still early with no decisions made, and any change would need CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s approval. Meta could keep its public models while also building a private one. Either way, moving toward a private model would be a big strategic shift as it tries to keep up with rivals like Google, OpenAI, and Anthropic. In a podcast interview last year, Zuckerberg said, “We’re obviously very pro open source, but I haven’t committed to releasing every single thing that we do.”
Meta under scrutiny after several AI missteps
Over the last few months, Meta has dealt with numerous management problems, seen key staff depart, and launched products that didn’t make waves. Zuckerberg, on the other hand, is still committed to building superintelligence that some may describe as beyond human thinking. To staff the initiative, Zuckerberg initiated an aggressive recruitment campaign, offering nine‑figure compensation proposals to lure leading researchers from OpenAI, Google, Apple, Anthropic, and others.
Moreover, he reassigned the executive formerly in charge of Meta’s generative AI division. In June, Meta poured $14.3 billion into Scale AI, the company founded and helmed by Alexandr Wang. The deal granted Meta a 49 % equity share, and Wang, together with some of his key associates, transitioned into senior posts within Meta.
Following the investment, Meta rebranded its AI arm as Meta Superintelligence Labs, with Wang taking up the position of chief AI officer. He is now in charge of an elite cohort of about a dozen hires, several Scale AI deputies, and Nat Friedman, ex‑CEO of GitHub. On Tuesday, Wang held a Q&A with about 2,000 AI team members. He said his core team’s work would stay private and that everyone in the AI division would now focus on building superintelligence.
Looking forward, some AI employees anticipate the upcoming vesting window in August, which will allow certain staff to liquidate company shares. It could trigger a wave of departures among those not selected for the superintelligence group. On Monday, Zuckerberg unveiled intentions to commit hundreds of billions of dollars toward AI compute infrastructure, aiming to have Meta’s inaugural supercluster operational by next year.
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