Meta (META) is reportedly planning to release a commercial version of its artificial intelligence that companies can customize in an effort to catch up with rivals.

Researchers and academics have already been given access to Meta's language model, LLaMa. Now that access will be expanded to companies, the Financial Times reported.

Meta is also exploring charging enterprise customers to allow them the ability to use their own proprietary data to fine-tune the model according to their needs, according to the FT, which cited unidentified people.

Open-source models can allay fears of AI, increase transparency, and allow for more innovation and better products, Nick Clegg, the president of global affairs at Meta, has said. Still, he said, there is a role to play for both open AI and proprietary models.

Meta's LLM being open source could be a differentiator as it competes with other tech heavyweights Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOG; GOOGL), and Amazon (AMZN). Microsoft and Alphabet's offerings, ChatGPT and Bard, run on proprietary software.

In January, Microsoft (MSFT) expanded its relationship with OpenAI, integrating its generative AI ChatGPT with Bing for search and Copilot for Office products. It had over 2,500 customers for the advanced language model Azure OpenAI earlier this year.

Doubling down on AI, Google's parent company Alphabet (GOOG) combined DeepMind and Google Brain in April, after launching Bard in March this year.

Leading cloud provider Amazon (AMZN) is investing in generative AI and LLMs and planning to use the former to drive its advertising business.

Meta's shares were up 1.7% at 2:30 p.m. ET Thursday.