The tech world buzzed with excitement as Meta Platforms hosted its inaugural LlamaCon developer conference on April 29, 2025. The event showcased Meta's latest advancements in generative AI and featured a highly anticipated conversation between Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
A key highlight of LlamaCon was the unveiling of Meta's new standalone AI app, designed to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT. Built using Meta's Llama 4 AI system, the app seeks to differentiate itself through social media integration. It includes a "discover" feed, allowing users to explore how others are interacting with AI, and a voice mode for more natural conversations. Forrester research director Mike Proulx noted that the app's Discover feed is similar to the original Facebook Feed but focuses specifically on AI use cases. By connecting Facebook and Instagram accounts, the Meta AI app can instantly personalize the user experience with social media context.
Meta has adopted a unique approach to AI by releasing it as an open-source product. The company reports that over a billion people are already using its AI products each month. Zuckerberg has emphasized Meta's history of open-sourcing its AI infrastructure, fostering innovation, safety, and security through collaboration among developers.
During their conversation at LlamaCon, Zuckerberg and Nadella engaged in a technical discussion about the rapid pace of AI development and its transformative impact on their respective companies and the world. Zuckerberg acknowledged the "hype" surrounding AI but stressed that significant increases in productivity should translate into substantial GDP growth. He cautioned that this transformation would take several years to fully materialize.
Nadella compared the current AI revolution to previous technological shifts, such as the rise of the web, mobile, and cloud computing. He noted that each transition forces a rethinking of the entire technology stack. With AI, improvements are happening simultaneously across various areas, including chips, software, models, and prompting techniques, making AI more powerful and affordable.
The two CEOs also explored the evolving role of developers in an AI-driven world. Nadella mentioned that 20-30% of Microsoft's code is now generated with AI assistance, using tools like GitHub Copilot. Zuckerberg added that Meta anticipates AI handling half of its software development processes within the next year. This shift requires developers to focus on designing intelligent workflows and collaborating with AI agents.
Zuckerberg expressed his gratitude to Microsoft for supporting Meta's open-source Llama models, highlighting a shared belief in the importance of openness for AI progress. Nadella emphasized that Microsoft supports both open and closed AI models to provide customers with choice, interoperability, and flexibility. He also described Microsoft Azure as a "distillation factory," capable of taking frontier intelligence and deploying it across various devices. Zuckerberg mentioned Meta's upcoming "Little Llama," a distilled model designed for efficient performance on consumer hardware.
The LlamaCon event also shed light on Meta's broader AI ecosystem. The company announced that Llama models have been downloaded over 1.2 billion times, demonstrating strong developer interest. Meta is also working on multimodal models, such as Llama 4, which can process both text and images.
Looking ahead, Meta is expected to launch "half a dozen more AI-powered wearables" in 2025, including Oakley AI glasses and a neural wristband. The company is also planning updates for its Orion AR glasses.
LlamaCon 2025 served as a platform to showcase Meta's commitment to AI innovation and its vision for the future of computing. The event underscored the company's focus on open-source development, developer engagement, and the integration of AI across its various platforms.
