Meta Platforms (META) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) are teaming up to offer 30 U.S.-based startups up to $200,000 AWS cloud computing credits each for building AI tools on Meta’s open-source Llama AI platform.
The six-month program will be open for applications until August 8.
Both Meta and AWS will have engineers providing technical support to the startups as part of the program.
The benefits to the companies appear to be two-fold: For Meta, the program could serve as a recruitment tool as part of CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s effort to build out an AI “Superintelligence” team, as Bloomberg reported last month.
Zuckerberg is reportedly looking to hire about 50 people for this team, with him personally handling the recruitment, according to Bloomberg.
For Amazon (AMZN), the benefits could be to keep these AI startups on its AWS cloud computing platform beyond the six-month program.
The two companies announced the partnership at the AWS Summit in New York City on Wednesday.
“We have a long-standing relationship and partnership with Meta, and what we’re aiming to do here with the Llama collaboration is really empower founders to build transformative AI using Llama models,” AWS Vice President and Global Head of Startups and Venture Capital Jon Jones told CNN ahead of the event.
Zuckerberg, who has expressed disappointment with Meta’s progress in the AI race, has been aggressively trying to correct these shortcomings.
This has included poaching OpenAI researchers with massive pay packages that reportedly include $100 million bonuses in some cases.
Meta also made a $14.3 billion investment in the startup Scale AI last month, giving Zuckerberg’s company a 49% stake.
Meta also hired Scale AI founder and CEO Alexandr Wang, who took some of his employees with him. Wang has been placed in charge of the Superintelligence team.
Interestingly, despite Meta’s massive investment in the company, Scale AI interim CEO Jason Droege sent a note to employees on Wednesday informing them that the company would be cutting 14% of its global workforce, or 200 full-time staffers.
The company will also be severing ties with about 500 contractors.
“The reasons for these changes are straightforward: we ramped up our GenAI capacity too quickly over the past year,” Droege wrote in the memo that was viewed by The Verge.
“While that felt like the right decision at the time, it’s clear this approach created inefficiencies and redundancies. We created too many layers, excessive bureaucracy, and unhelpful confusion about the team’s mission.”
He added that “shifts in market demand also required us to re-examine our plans and refine our approach.”
These “shifts in market demand,” are likely a reference to the fact that some of its biggest customers – including OpenAI and Google (GOOGL) – have phased out their work with the startup since the deal with Meta was announced, as Bloomberg reported.
Meta’s stock is up about 20% YTD, while Amazon has gained 2.1%.
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