06:20 AM EDT, 03/16/2026 (MT Newswires) -- (Updates with Meta's response in the fourth paragraph.)

Meta Platforms ( META ) has postponed the launch of its Avocado artificial intelligence model to at least May as the AI tool fell short of internal tests, The New York Times reported late Thursday, citing three people familiar with the matter.

Avocado has not performed as strongly as Alphabet (GOOG, GOOGL) unit Google's ( GOOG ) Gemini 3.0 from November, two of the sources told The New York Times.

The Facebook parent's AI division has instead decided to temporarily license Gemini to power the company's AI products, though no final decision has been reached, according to the news outlet, citing the people.

"As we've said publicly, 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," a Meta spokesperson told MT Newswires in a statement e-mailed Friday.

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