Everybody seems to love Zuck right now

Mark Zuckerberg is winning praise from rivals including Elon Musk for open-sourcing Meta's AI model following the release of Llama 3.1.

• Mark Zuckerberg won praise from CEOs for open-sourcing Meta's AI model, Llama 3.1.
• Zuckerberg's popularity seems to be on the rise as tech leaders applaud his open-source approach.
• Shopify's CEO called the model an "incredible gift," and even Elon Musk said he "does deserve credit."

If there were a Big Tech CEO popularity contest, Zuck might well be taking the crown right now.

The Meta chief is winning the admiration of CEOs of companies including Shopify and Perplexity. Even Elon Musk gave Zuck a rare nod of approval.

What's sparking this praise? Meta's move to open source its biggest AI model yet: Llama 3.1, which was released on Tuesday.

"It is impressive and Zuck does deserve credit for open-sourcing," Musk said in response to an X post. Meanwhile, Shopify CEO Tobi Lutke applauded Zuck and said Llama 3.1 is an "incredible gift."

Meta says Llama 3.1 outperforms rivals, including OpenAI, on certain benchmarks.

Alongside the reveal, Zuck laid his cards on the table about why Meta is pursuing an open-source approach in a manifesto published Tuesday that Paul Graham, cofounder of startup accelerator Y Combinator, called "eloquent."

Perplexity chief Aravind Srinivas praised Zuck's "well articulated" reasoning about not fearing the loss of a technical edge, noting that Meta can gain by letting developers use and improve its models.

As Grammarly CEO Rahul Roy-Chowdhury pointed out in December, open-sourcing AI models can benefit developers because it reduces the time and resources needed to develop new applications, making AI accessible beyond large tech companies. It also increases transparency, as third parties can audit and verify the datasets and codes of the models and, in theory, make products safer.

It's the opposite tactic of Sam Altman's OpenAI. Zuck made a quip about its closed-source approach in a recent Bloomberg TV interview: "It's a somewhat ironic thing to have an organization that's named OpenAI but is sort of the leader in building closed AI models. It's not necessarily bad, but it's kind of a little funny."

Zuckerberg also admitted there's a real possibility that Big Tech firms might be "over-building" and overspending in the AI arms race, but suggested this might be rational considering where the technology is headed.

But Zuck's plaudits aren't just for open-sourcing. He's been doing other cool things lately that have scored him some serious internet points, like posting a video of him surfing whilst wearing a tux on Independence Day, rocking a chain, and showing off his newfound drip.

Zuck is definitely having a moment right now.