In a notable gesture amid intensifying AI rivalry, Google CEO Sundar Pichai publicly congratulated Meta on the launch of its latest AI models from the Llama 4 suite. Meta unveiled three models—Llama 4 Maverick, Scout, and Behemoth—on Saturday, though only the Maverick and Scout models are currently available for download.
Pichai posted on X, “Never a dull day in the AI world! Kudos to the Llama 4 team—Onwards!” Meta’s generative AI lead, Ahmad Al-Dale, replied with gratitude, matching the enthusiastic spirit.
The launch of Llama 4 is widely seen as Meta’s direct challenge to Google’s AI tools, especially Gemini. The Maverick model is reportedly outperforming Gemini 2.0 (Flash) in several areas, including coding and multilingual tasks, while the Scout model is said to outpace Gemini Flash Lite and Gemma 3. The Behemoth model, not yet released, is expected to push boundaries even further.
Llama 4 models are multimodal, supporting both text and image inputs across 12 languages. They also serve as the foundation for Meta AI, the company’s virtual assistant now embedded in WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, and web platforms.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg emphasized the company’s open-source vision in a recent Instagram video, saying, “Our goal is to build the world’s leading AI, open source it, and make it universally accessible… and with Llama 4, we’re starting to see that happen.”
Pichai had previously also congratulated Elon Musk on the launch of xAI’s Grok-3, signaling a collaborative spirit amid fierce competition in the AI race.
