Open Source
-
The OSI has killed its Open Source community with censorship
The Open Source Initiative (OSI), self-declared “steward” of Open Source, has finally succeeded in killing its community dead with heavy-handed censorship, which is a weird thing for an organisation to do that’s “actively involved in Open Source community-building”. From moderating, closing, and forking posts to outright banning members, it seems no tool of repression is…
-
Defining Mandatory Components for AI Systems Seeking Digital Public Good (DPG) Recognition
I have made this submission to the community discussion on the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA)‘s Proposal: Defining Mandatory Components for AI Systems Seeking Digital Public Good (DPG) Recognition
-
Open-Source Licensing for AI presentation at DevFest 2024
Earlier this month Wes Turner, a Senior Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, had A Quick Look at the New Open Source AI Definition from the OSI at DevFest 2024, a Google Developer Group (GDG) conference focused this year on Responsible AI. As you can see, like many before him (including myself) he was discombobulated by…
-
Beware the Balancing Act in Open Source AI
One thing I find LLMs particularly useful for is reading between the lines in a structured way. The Balancing Act in The Atlantic just popped up in my feed and is not-at-all-obviously posted (and paid for) by Google. It contains a lot of motherhood and apple pie, allaying fears by claiming today’s LLMs only provide…
-
Openness vs Completeness: Data Dependencies and Open Source AI
Four Freedoms of Free Software For those of you new to the Free & Open Source Software (FOSS) party, these creative works are deliberately made available by their authors under licenses that protect the “four essential freedoms” of free (as in freedom, not as in beer) software, allowing users to: These four freedoms are implemented…
-
Fork you and the Open Source AI Definition you rode in on…
Forking is the latest hobby horse of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), so let’s flog this dead horse too: “An Open Source AI machine is one that the people can meaningfully fork without having to ask for permission.” — Open Source Initiative (OSI) “Indeed! Pity many don’t grasp this very basic concept.” — OSI Board…
-
Open Source AI: Won’t somebody please think of the children?
We must be nearing the end of this sorry saga of the Open Source Initiative (OSI)’s Open Source AI Definition (OSAID), because we’ve reached the “Oh, won’t somebody please think of the children” stage at The Linux Foundation Member Summit, which is essentially a public admission that you’ve lost the debate. Specifically, their logical fallacy…
-
Federated Learning and Open Source AI
In light of how often federated learning is used by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) as an excuse for enabling vendors to conceal the source (i.e., data) under their flawed Open Source AI Definition (OSAID), I’ve updated the So, you want to write about the OSI’s Open Source AI Definition (OSAID)… article with the following…
-
Medical applications of Open Source AI
In light of how often medical applications are used by the Open Source Initiative (OSI) as an excuse for enabling vendors to conceal the source (i.e., data) under their flawed Open Source AI Definition (OSAID), I’ve updated the So, you want to write about the OSI’s Open Source AI Definition (OSAID)… article with the following…
-
Open Letter to Georgia Tech on Open Source AI in Education & Research
I was disappointed to discover today that Georgia Tech‘s brand new Open Source Project Office (OSPO) has unilaterally endorsed the Open Source Initiative’s Open Source AI Definition (OSAID), suggesting that the school itself supports it (which fortunately does not appear to be the case). They’re clearly in over their skis and haven’t thought this through…