Exploring the future of Open Source | May 13, 2022 | Voices of Open Source

"As the steward of the Open Source Definition, the OSI needs to understand all the challenges it’s facing. The introduction of new technologies can challenge open source. Like when the “software-as-a-service” model started emerging and that required reviewing the GNU GPL, creating the AGPL. Now we believe that the emergence of Artificial Intelligence is posing new questions for the open source community. Artificial Intelligence ruptures the boundary between data and software. When you write a letter to your friends using LibreOffice, it’s quite clear what your data is and The Document Foundation has no rights to it. If you don’t like how LibreOffice handles your documents, you have all the rights to fix it. It’s quite clear what rights you have under LibreOffice’s open source licenses. But when you point your phone’s smart camera to a cat and the app thinks it’s a dog what happens, exactly? How do you fix such a “smart” application? AI systems are being deployed to make choices in place of humans. There are courts in the United States where algorithms decide if someone stays in jail or gets out on parole or if one deserves credit to buy a house. What’s the equivalent of “source code” in this context? The open source movement has shaped conversations during the emergence of the internet, driving decisions around cryptography and security, content rights management and patents on software.  It’s time to sharpen the collective knowledge to assess the impact of these emerging technologies. That’s why we’ve launched a new kind of online event to discover what are the challenges for Open Source posed by Artificial Intelligence. Deep Dive: AI is a 3-part event, starting with a podcast series, a panel discussion and a final report. We’ve started interviewing experts for the podcast and we’re looking for sponsors to complete the series. Join us promoting the event on social media with the hashtag #DeepDiveAI. We can’t wait to hear what the community wishes for an “open source AI system” to be. Discuss this and other topics during OSI’s informal office hours on Fridays. ..."