Meta, a multinational technology company, has unveiled Llama 3.1 impact grants to empower artificial intelligence-driven organisations across Africa, the Middle East and Turkey.

Kojo Boakye, vice-president of public policy (Africa, the Middle East, and Turkiye) for Meta, said this in a statement on Tuesday.

Mr Boakye said Meta would continue to support innovative use cases of open-source AI to address critical global challenges.

The Meta executive said 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.

According to Mr Boakye, 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.

Mr Boakye said that applications in areas such as economic development, science and innovation, public service and more would be given special consideration.

He said selected recipients would receive up to $500,000, and winners would be announced early next year. He mentioned that Meta would host regional events to support prospective applicants, including virtual events, in-person hackathons, workshops, and training sessions.

Mr Boakye 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.

The Meta executive noted that these events would provide technical guidance and mentorship, fostering the development of impactful applications of Llama 3.1 in local contexts.

According to Boakye, the application window for the Llama 3.1 impact grants is open from August 5 to November 22, 2024.

(NAN)