Meta is fully committed to closed-source models, and the new model Avocado may be launched next spring

Months after investing tens of billions of dollars to build the most expensive team in tech history, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is deeply involved in day-to-day research and development and driving the company's strategy towards artificial intelligence models that can be directly monetized. A new model, code-named "Avocado", is expected to be released in spring 2026 and could be launched in a closed-source format (meaning that Meta strictly controls and sells access to the outside world), according to people familiar with the matter. The move marks a significant departure from Meta's long-championed open-source approach. Zuckerberg has devoted much of his time to a core team called TBD Lab, which has even integrated third-party models including Google Gemma, OpenAIgpt-oss and Alibaba Qwen when training Avocado. Meta, meanwhile, is overhauling quotas, cutting back on meta-universe and virtual reality, shifting money toward hardware like AI glasses, and plans to invest $600 billion in AI infrastructure in the U.S. over the next three years.