Absolutely, smaller AI companies can compete! Here is my reason: Competition is healthier for smaller competitors: Meta focuses on many different things including social media, ads, VR, and AI. Smaller companies focus on one thing and solve it really well. Think about how a small restaurant could have better pizza than a big restaurant that serves everything. They can implement changes faster: To implement new ideas, big companies require long meetings to plan. In comparison, small businesses can execute new ideas immediately. If a small business thinks of something useful on Monday, it can have it ready by Friday. They can serve special needs: No single person requires or desires the same thing. If you need assistance in a certain field, smaller businesses can tailor their products to serve the needs of a specific audience. Intelligent people can be found in all places: Smaller businesses often have brilliant minds, and some of the best AI researchers may choose to work at smaller firms due to the flexibility they have. Easily Collaborate: There is always an option to collaborate, as small companies can join efforts with larger ones. There is no need to compete against meta all on your own; working in collaboration can be achieved in different ways. For some purposes, Meta AI is useful; however, it is not tailored for every single task. A variety of AI tools can be developed in response to different requirements. The key is that smaller companies need to be smart about what they choose to work on. They can not compete directly with Meta's massive resources; but they can find their own special corner of the AI world where they can be the best.
Smaller players always have way more barriers compared to those tech giants purely because of funding. Meta has so much money and power at their disposal to work on developing Meta AI and getting people to use it. Unfortunately in the realm of tech, and the business world at large, money does tend to go a very long way toward determining who sees the most success. That being said, I do think smaller players can still absolutely stand a chance if they can provide something unique or better than Meta AI.