> Why do I have to request anything? And I'm not an academic or researcher, so will they accept my random request? Just a guess: you will have to contractually

> Why do I have to request anything? And I'm not an academic or researcher, so will they accept my random request? Just a guess: you will have to contractually agree to some things in order to get the model; at a minimum, agree not to redistribute it, but probably also agree not to use it commercially. That means whatever commercial advantage there is to having a model this size isn't affected by this offer, which makes it lower stakes for Facebook to offer. And then the point of "academics and researchers" is to be a proxy for "people we trust to keep their promise because they have a clear usecase for non-commercial access to the model and a reputation to protect." They can also sue after the fact, but they'd rather not have to. Not saying any of this is good or bad, just an educated guess about why it works the way it does.