This week, Meta has unveiled its latest innovation in the sphere of artificial intelligence (AI), Code Llama. This state-of-the-art LLM is capable of generating code, and natural language about code, from both code and natural language prompts. It’s free for both research and commercial use.
So far, the model has demonstrated impressive benchmark performances. As a result, some believe the model has the ability to change how code is written, understood and debugged.
Meta believes that Code Llama has the ability to make workflows faster and more efficient for developers. The model should also lower the barrier to entry for people who are learning to code.
What is Code Llama?
Meta says that “Code Llama is a code-specialised version of Llama 2 that was created by further training Llama 2 on its code-specific datasets, sampling more data from that same dataset for longer.”
There are currently three distinct models:
- The foundational code model.
- Code Llama – Python, a version explicitly fine-tuned for Python.
- Code Llama – Instruct, designed to handle natural language instructions more effectively.
Code Llama features enhanced coding capabilities. It can generate code and natural language about code, as well as code completion and debugging.
It supports many of the most popular programming languages used today, including Python, C++, Java, PHP, Typescript (Javascript), C#, Bash and more. Plus, it is available in three different sizes with 7B, 13B, and 34B parameters. These cater to varying requirements concerning serving and latency.
image courtesy of Meta
How can Code Llama help developers and marketers?
Today, many programmers are using LLMs like Code Llama to assist them in a variety of roles. With the help of LLMs, developer workflows are far more efficient. This is because LLMs can automate some of the simpler and more repetitive elements of the job, meaning that programmers can focus on the most human-centric aspects.
While some LLMs are specialised for specific sectors, Code Llama is instead designed to support software engineers in all sectors — including research, industry, open source projects, NGOs and businesses. It’s hoped that this LLM will inspire people in these sectors to leverage Llama 2 to create new innovative tools for research and commercial products.
On top of this, as it’s publically available, Meta hopes that Code Llama will facilitate the development of new technologies that improve people’s lives.
Why does this matter?
ChatGPT may have dominated the headlines in the past six months, but Code Llama is just as big of a deal. After all, it symbolises a significant advancement in AI-driven code generation. Added to this, it also represents Meta’s commitment to an open approach to such a technology.
As it’s free for commercial and research use, Code Llama will undoubtedly help more developers innovate safely and quickly. In addition to this, its impact could be incredibly wide ranging. After all, the introduction of Code Llama could impact everyone in coding, from those entering the field to developers with decades of experience.
We believe that this open-source LLM also has the ability to streamline the way many technical SEOs operate. This is because it has the ability to speed up repetitive tasks and improve efficiencies. As a result, Code Llama will allow technical SEOs to spend more time focusing on fine-tuning strategic objectives, as well as testing and learning strategies.