Llama 2 Community License Agreement: Open Access, Responsibility, and Protection
Introduction
Meta's Llama 2 Community License Agreement strikes a balance between open access and responsibility. This bespoke commercial license allows for broad commercial use, while safeguarding against potential misuse.
Open Access for Research and Commercialization
Llama 2, the open-source large language model (LLM), is available for free for research and commercial purposes. This accessibility empowers individuals, creators, researchers, and businesses to experiment, innovate, and scale their ideas.
Commercial Use with Protections
The license enables broad commercial use of Llama 2. Developers can create and redistribute additional work based on the model. However, the license includes restrictions to prevent misuse, such as:
- Prohibitions against using the LLM for harmful or illegal purposes
- Requirements for attribution and acknowledgment of Meta's ownership
Integration into the Hugging Face Ecosystem
Meta has collaborated with Hugging Face to ensure seamless integration of Llama 2 into their ecosystem. This integration simplifies access to the model's code, pretrained weights, and fine-tuned models.
Special License for High-Volume Use
Companies seeking to use Llama 2 for applications with over 700 million monthly active users must request a special license from Meta. The full terms of this license are outlined in the Llama 2 Community License Agreement text.
Permissive Commercial License
Unlike its predecessor, Llama 2 is released with a permissive commercial license. This license allows for a wide range of commercial applications, making it a compelling alternative to models with more restrictive licenses.
Open Innovation and Partnerships
Microsoft and Meta are expanding their AI partnership with Llama 2 as the preferred partner. This collaboration aims to promote open innovation and bring together a diverse group of companies, academics, and policymakers who share a belief in open access.
Non-Open Source License
It's important to note that Meta's license for Llama 2 does not fully adhere to open source standards. The license places restrictions on commercial use for some users and certain purposes, such as alignment research.
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