Meta's New AI Model 'Avocado' Postponed to May Launch, Performance Gap with Peers is Key Reason

Meta's new AI model 'Avocado', originally scheduled for mid-March release, has been postponed to May, according to three insiders cited by The New York Times.

Internal tests show that 'Avocado' lags significantly behind peers like OpenAI and Anthropic in logical reasoning, programming, and writing abilities. While it outperforms Meta's older models and Google's Gemini 2.5, it still can't reach the level of Gemini 3.0.

Meta's management has discussed temporarily using Google Gemini but hasn't made a final decision yet. Additionally, Meta is planning other AI models like 'Watermelon' and 'Mango' as well as generative image and video models, though Llama 4 previously failed to meet the company's expectations, weakening its momentum in AI competition.