Meta's 'Avocado' Flagship Model Delayed After Benchmark Failures; Company Pivots to Hybrid Open/Closed Strategy

Meta's next-generation foundational model, internally codenamed 'Avocado' (LLM) alongside multimedia generator 'Mango,' has been delayed after failing to match competitors including Google on coding, reasoning, and writing benchmarks — missing a planned March 2026 launch. In response, Meta is shifting to a hybrid strategy: continuing to open-source consumer-focused models while pursuing closed development for its more advanced 'Hybrid Superintelligence' project, with some frontier components kept proprietary. The models are being developed under Alexandr Wang, with Meta positioning its open-source efforts as a democratizing alternative to increasingly enterprise-focused rivals like Anthropic and OpenAI. Developers note the delay raises questions about Meta's ability to remain a credible LLaMA alternative to closed models.