Meta Platforms on Tuesday announced the launch of an application programming interface (API) aimed at attracting businesses to more easily build AI products using its Llama artificial intelligence models.
The Llama API, introduced during Meta’s first-ever AI developer conference, is designed to help the company compete against APIs from rival AI model makers such as Microsoft-backed OpenAI, Alphabet’s Google, and emerging low-cost alternatives like China’s DeepSeek.
“You can now start using Llama with one line of code,” said Chris Cox, Meta’s chief product officer, during his keynote speech.
APIs enable software developers to customize and integrate technology into their products more quickly. For OpenAI, APIs are the primary revenue source. While Meta did not disclose pricing details for the new Llama API, it announced the API is available as a limited preview for select customers, with broader availability expected in the coming weeks to months.
In addition to the Llama API, Meta released a standalone AI assistant app and revealed plans to test a paid subscription service for its AI chatbot in the second quarter of the year.
Meta has made its Llama models largely available for free to developers, a strategy that CEO Mark Zuckerberg has previously said will foster innovation, reduce reliance on competitors, and drive greater engagement on the company’s core social networks.
“You have full agency over these custom models, you control them in a way that’s not possible with other offers,” said Manohar Paluri, Meta’s vice president of AI, at the conference. “Whatever model you customize is yours to take wherever you want, not locked on our servers.”
At the conference, Meta also shared new techniques it used to significantly reduce costs and improve the efficiency of its latest Llama iteration. Zuckerberg expressed support for increased competition in the AI market, emphasizing the value of a diverse, competitive ecosystem.
“If another model, like DeepSeek, is better at something, then now as developers you have the ability to take the best parts of the intelligence from the different models and produce exactly what you need, which I think is going to be very powerful,” Zuckerberg said.
