Meta, a tech giant company, is set to empower Artificial Intelligence (AI) driven organisations across Africa, the Middle East and Turkey as it unveiled Llama 3.1 impact grants to fund these companies.
This was revealed in a statement made by Kojo Boakye, Vice President of Public Policy, Africa, the Middle East, and Turkey at Meta recently in Lagos.
According to Boakye, Meta would continue its commitment to supporting innovative use cases of open-source AI to address critical global challenges. He said that building on the success of previous grant programmes, the Llama 3.1 impact grants would provide up to two million dollars in funding to organisations worldwide.
Boakye disclosed that the Llama 3.1 impact grants programme invites proposals from organisations with ideas for using Llama 3.1 to address social challenges in their communities.
He said that applications in areas such as economic development, science and innovation, public service and more would be given special consideration. He also said that the selected recipients would receive up to $500,000 and winners would be announced early next year.
His words, “We are inspired by the diverse projects we have seen developers undertake around the world to positively impact their communities by building with Llama. We believe AI has more potential than any other modern technology to increase human productivity, creativity, and quality of life and to accelerate economic growth while unlocking progress in medical and scientific research.
“The Llama 3.1 impact grants programmes presents an opportunity to further empower organisations to leverage AI for social good and to drive meaningful change.”
Explaining further Boakye said that to support prospective applicants, Meta would host a series of regional events, including virtual events, in-person hackathons, workshops, and training sessions.
He said this would be done in Egypt, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Korea, Latin America, North America, Pakistan, Singapore, sub-Saharan Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates and Vietnam.
Boakye noted that these events would provide technical guidance and mentorship, fostering the development of impactful applications of Llama 3.1 in local contexts.
He said, “Organisations participating in these events will be eligible for additional specialised awards of up to $100,000. The inaugural Llama Impact Grants, announced in October 2023, received over 800 applications from 90+ countries.
“The 20 finalists have submitted their final proposals, and the grant recipients will be announced in September, alongside the recipients of the Llama Impact Innovation Awards,” Boakye said
According to Boakye, the application window for the Llama 3.1 impact grants is open from Aug. 5, 2024, to Nov. 22, 2024.