US tech giant Meta Platforms demonstrated the latest version of its artificial intelligence software in Tokyo on Tuesday. It can translate languages from speech as well as text.

Meta's generative AI known as Llama provided English translation orally and in writing from languages such as Japanese and Spanish.

Manohar Paluri, a Meta vice president who leads development of generative AI at the company, said Llama was made available for free, which allowed the firm to collect a variety of application examples.

Paluri told NHK in an interview that he was in Japan to study how developers and others are using Llama.

Paluri said: "Japan is an important country and has many, many users and developers that are building on the published models. You can't build and iterate unless you know how it's actually being used. The reason we are here is to learn and to understand and to unlock more value."

Paluri said the feedback he gets in the country will enable Meta to give Llama a better understanding of Japan's language and culture.