March 12 (Reuters) - Meta has delayed the

release of its artificial intelligence model code-named

"Avocado" to at least May from this month, the New York Times

reported on Thursday, citing three people with knowledge of the

matter.

The delayed timeline comes even as the company invests

heavily to expand its AI ambitions, including a roadmap for

building its own chips. In January, Meta laid out capital

spending plans of between $115 billion and $135 billion for the

year in the pursuit of "superintelligence" - the horizon where

AI will outsmart humans.

Meta's new model, which the company has been working on for

months, has fallen short in performance when compared to the

latest offerings from rivals, the report said.

A Meta spokesperson told Reuters: "Our next model will be

good, but more importantly, show the rapid trajectory we're on,

and then we'll steadily push the frontier over the course of the

year as we continue to release new models."

"We're excited for people to see what we've been cooking

very soon," the spokesperson added in an emailed statement.

The leaders of Meta's AI division have discussed the

possibility of temporarily licensing Google's Gemini

to power the company's AI products, the report added, although

no decisions have been reached.

Media outlets had reported in December that Meta was working

on a text AI model code-named Avocado slated for a first-quarter

launch.