- Mark Zuckerberg criticized Apple for iOS restrictions that impact what Meta's apps can do.
- Zuckerberg advocated for open-source AI models, opposing Apple's closed-system approach.
- The Meta CEO is betting that an open-source approach to AI and the software running headsets will win out.
Mark Zuckerberg sounds tired of having to navigate Apple's restrictions.
The Facebook cofounder called out Apple in a blog post published on Meta's website on Tuesday announcing the newest Lllama AI models.
"One of my formative experiences has been building our services constrained by what Apple will let us build on their platforms," Zuckerberg wrote.
"Between the way they tax developers, the arbitrary rules they apply, and all the product innovations they block from shipping, it's clear that Meta and many other companies would be freed up to build much better services for people if we could build the best versions of our products and competitors were not able to constrain what we could build," he added.
The Meta CEO has been pouring billions into trying to make sure the same thing doesn't happen again.
Zuckerberg is betting big on both the metaverse and AI as the future technology where people will spend their time, and Meta is developing its own AI and software to power the AR and VR headsets, such as the Quest lineup, used to access the metaverse.
"On a philosophical level, this is a major reason why I believe so strongly in building open ecosystems in AI and AR/VR for the next generation of computing," Zuckerberg said in the blog post.
Apple's approach is different. The company prefers the "walled garden" approach, which gives it tight control of its ecosystem. Apple has said this helps give the best user experience and is better for safety and privacy.
For its upcoming generative AI features, Apple Intelligence, the company opted to partner with OpenAI to begin with, but also developed many of its own AI features. While Apple has said it's open to integrating other third-party AI models in the future, such as Google's Gemini, the company reportedly snubbed Meta's AI in early talks over data privacy concerns.
Zuckerberg expanded on his critique of Apple in an interview with AI news YouTuber Rowan Cheung, also published Tuesday. He said that while he doesn't think Apple will necessarily be "in the wrong place" for AI, he believes that open-source models should — and will — be the standard.
"They absolutely, from my perspective, apply different rules to kind of limit what we can do," he said, referring to Apple.
Zuckerberg said he doesn't consider himself an "open-source zealot," but he has previously slammed closed-source AI companies and those trying to build a singular AGI "God."
He also clearly hasn't forgotten the roughly $10 billion revenue hit Meta's apps took when Apple introduced new privacy prompts in 2021 that asked iPhone users to choose which apps had permission to track their behavior for advertising purposes. Meta's CFO at the time, David Wehner, said that the iOS update hurt Facebook's ad revenue.
"I think it's a little bit soul-crushing when you go build features that are what you believe is good for your community, and then you're told that you can't ship them because some company wants to put you in a box," Zuckerberg said.
While Zuck acknowledged that Apple's dominance in the mobile industry has made a convincing case for a closed model, he pointed to PCs as a more open model that easily rivaled Apple systems.
"Compared to the Apple approach of coupling your operating system with the device, the Windows approach was a more open ecosystem," he said. "And it won."
And Zuckerberg hopes Meta will also be on the winning side. He said he wants to "restore the industry" to a state where open ecosystems become the leading model — and for Meta to be at the forefront.
"That's something that I just personally and philosophically care about," Zuckerberg said. "Given the kind of limits on creativity that I've felt have sort of been applied to our industry by the closed model of mobile development."