Meta Delays Avocado AI Model as Performance Reportedly Trails Google Gemini 3

Meta is investing as much as $135 billion to expand its AI infrastructure. Avocado is seen as the next-generation foundation model that will succeed Llama and help narrow the gap with Google and OpenAI. Its ability to deliver timely improvements in reasoning and generation will be critical to turning that vast investment into competitive products.

Avocado was originally scheduled for release in March, but internal testing fell short of expectations, with some benchmarks reportedly trailing Google Gemini 3. The launch has been pushed back to May at the earliest, and a formal release date remains uncertain. Meta has also internally discussed temporarily adopting Google Gemini as an interim solution to keep its AI products competitive.