Meta is stepping up its AI game in 2025 with the official launch of Llama 4 models, directly challenging the likes of OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. These new AI models—Llama 4 Maverick, Llama 4 Scout, and a preview of the mysterious Llama 4 Behemoth—promise to revolutionize how users interact with artificial intelligence across platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Messenger.
But what exactly are these models, how do they work, and how can you use them today? Let’s break it down!
What Is Meta’s Llama 4?
The Llama 4 series is Meta’s next-gen large language model (LLM), designed with multimodal AI capabilities—meaning it can understand text, images, and video all at once. This makes it ideal for tasks like image captioning, code summarization, document analysis, and more.
With Mark Zuckerberg himself backing the rollout, Meta is clearly positioning Llama 4 to go head-to-head with leading AI systems like ChatGPT-4 and Gemini 1.5.
What’s New in Llama 4?
Meta has introduced two downloadable models:
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Llama 4 Maverick
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Llama 4 Scout
These models are already available for developers and researchers through the Meta AI website and Hugging Face. Meta is also teasing a third model—Llama 4 Behemoth—which it claims is “one of the smartest LLMs in the world.”
Llama 4 Maverick: The Multimodal Workhorse
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17 billion active parameters
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128 experts trained for task-specific knowledge
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Designed for general assistant tasks, creative writing, and precise image understanding
Maverick is Meta’s all-purpose chatbot engine, built for versatility and performance. Whether you’re generating marketing copy, analyzing product photos, or chatting casually—Maverick is your go-to model.
Llama 4 Scout: For Code and Complex Docs
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Also has 17 billion active parameters
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Comes with 109 billion total parameters across 16 specialized experts
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Features a massive 10 million token context window
Scout is designed for document summarization, reasoning over code, and long-context tasks, making it a powerful tool for developers, researchers, and enterprise teams. Meta claims Scout outperforms competitors like Gemini Flash 2.0, Gemma 3, and Mistral 3.1 across several benchmarks.
What Makes Llama 4 Different?
Llama 4 isn’t just an upgrade—it’s built using an advanced machine learning technique known as Mixture of Experts (MoE). This technique allows parts of the model to specialize in certain types of tasks, boosting both performance and efficiency. 🚀
This method, inspired by Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, makes Llama 4 models highly scalable, task-specific, and resource-efficient—a winning combination in the AI race.
Is Llama 4 a Reasoning Model?
Not exactly. While Llama 4 excels in many areas, Meta has clarified that none of these models are designed specifically as reasoning-first models like OpenAI’s o3-mini or DeepSeek-V2 R1.
Reasoning models mimic human-like critical thinking and take more time to deliver deeply analytical responses. Llama 4, on the other hand, is optimized for speed, versatility, and multimodal interaction.
Where Can You Use Llama 4?
The Llama 4 models are now integrated with Meta AI across various platforms:
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WhatsApp
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Instagram
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Messenger
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Meta AI’s web portal (available in 40+ countries)
To use Llama 4, simply type “@Meta AI” into the chat on supported apps, or visit meta.ai for direct interaction.
Note: The multimodal capabilities (image + text) are currently limited to English-speaking users in the US—so no Studio Ghibli-style image generation just yet, but it’s on the horizon!
What About Llama 4 Behemoth?
Though not publicly available yet, Llama 4 Behemoth is being described by Meta as its most powerful and intelligent model. It is designed to act as a teacher or training guide for other LLMs and could soon set a new standard in AI intelligence.
With Behemoth, Meta is likely aiming to build a self-improving AI ecosystem, where smarter models help train newer, more efficient versions in the future.
How to Try Llama 4 Models as a Developer
If you’re a developer, AI researcher, or tech enthusiast, you can download Llama 4 Scout and Maverick from:
Use these models to fine-tune for your own apps, build chatbots, analyze images, or automate business workflows. 📂💻
Llama 4 vs ChatGPT vs Gemini: Who Wins?
| Feature | Llama 4 Maverick / Scout | ChatGPT-4 | Gemini 1.5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multimodal | Yes (limited release) | Yes | Yes |
| Reasoning Focus | No | Yes | Yes |
| Code Summarization | Excellent (Scout) | Good | Excellent |
| Context Window | 10M tokens (Scout) | 128K-1M | Up to 1M |
| Availability | WhatsApp, Instagram | Web & API | Google AI tools |
Meta’s Llama 4 series is ideal for fast, context-rich, and creative multimodal AI tasks, but if your use case needs deep reasoning or technical planning, ChatGPT or Gemini may still have the edge—for now.
Final Thoughts
With Llama 4, Meta has made it clear that it’s not just playing catch-up—it’s innovating boldly. From massive context windows to specialized experts, Meta’s AI models are shaping the next era of chatbots, productivity tools, and content generation platforms.
As Meta continues rolling out updates and expands its multimodal capabilities globally, 2025 is shaping up to be a defining year in the AI arms race.
So whether you’re a tech geek, business owner, or just someone who chats with AI—Llama 4 is worth exploring.