The U.S. General Services Administration announced a new initiative on Monday with Meta that supports government-wide use of Llama, its open-source Artificial Intelligence models, making them more accessible to all federal departments and agencies. A streamlined access approach eliminates individual agency negotiations, designed to save time and duplicate efforts across government agencies.
The GSA describes the new deal as a “landmark arrangement” that is anticipated to accelerate federal agency access to open source AI models and tools from Meta, the parent company of Facebook.
This aligns with several White House directives on integrating AI into the daily operations of federal agencies and departments.
The GSA release did not specifically mention military applications, which had been a sticking point until last fall, when Meta posted a blog entry outlining significant changes to military access to its AI models.
“We are pleased to confirm that we’re making Llama available to U.S. government agencies, including those that are working on defense and national security applications, and private sector partners supporting their work,” Meta wrote in the post.
“We’re partnering with companies including Accenture, Amazon Web Services, Anduril, Booz Allen, Databricks, Deloitte, IBM, Leidos, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Oracle, Palantir, Scale AI, and Snowflake to bring Llama to government agencies.”
Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Meta, said the latest agreement with the Trump administration is expected to have far-reaching ramifications. “America is leading on AI and we want to make sure all Americans see the benefit of AI innovation through better, more efficient public services,” he said. “With Llama, America’s government agencies can better serve people.”
During his first week of the second term, President Donald Trump issued an executive order directing government agencies to remove barriers to AI adoption. “With the right Government policies, we can solidify our position as the global leader in AI and secure a brighter future for all Americans.”
