Members Newsletter – July 2024

Doing business for and with Open Source can be a challenging endeavor, yet the market value of Open Source software from the supply and especially the demand side shows that it’s an investment that should not be ignored. The OSI started a Practical Open Source program through which we have been collecting stories from organizations producing Open Source based products and companies whose revenue depends on Open Source to show examples of how to balance community and commercial interests with Open Source. Selected stories will be featured on OpenSource.net beginning later this month, and some of these Open Source champions will be part of the panel at All Things Open (ATO) in October. Keep an eye out!

Speaking of ATO, we hope you’ll join us in Raleigh for the announcement of the stable version of the Open Source AI Definition. Two years of global collaboration of individuals, businesses, educational institutions, and more have been leading up to this point. The OSI continues to gather input from a diverse group of Open Source voices as we move toward a standardized definition that allows everyone to understand that they can benefit from autonomy, transparency, and collaborative improvement in Open Source AI.

Registration for ATO is still open and the latest draft of the OSAID is open for comments. Everyone’s participation is welcome and encouraged!

Stefano Maffulli
Executive Director, OSI 

I hold weekly office hours on Fridays with OSI members: book time if you want to chat about OSI’s activities, if you want to volunteer or have suggestions.

News from the OSI

Mer Joyce: voices of the Open Source AI Definition

From the Outreach and Advocacy program

Meet Mer Joyce, founder and principal of Do Big Good, independent consultant hired by the OSI to lead the OSAID co-design process. Read more.

Highlights from AI_dev Paris

From the Outreach and Advocacy program

The Linux Foundation hosted AI_dev Paris: Open Source GenAI & ML Summit Europe 2024. We share some highlights from AI_dev Paris and how they are aligned with OSI’s work on the Open Source AI Definition. Read more.

Explaining the concept of Data information

From the Outreach and Advocacy program

This post clarifies how the draft Open Source AI Definition arrived at its current state, the design principles behind the Data information concept and the constraints (legal and technical) it operates under. Read more.

Beyond SPDX: expanding licenses identified by ClearlyDefined

From the License and Legal program

ClearlyDefined now supports non-SPDX licenses. Scancode already provides this functionality and it offers mapping from these non-SPDX licenses to the SPDX LicenseRef. Organizations using ClearlyDefined now have the option to decide how to handle non-SPDX licenses based on their own needs. Read more.

OSI in the news

What does ‘open source AI’ mean, anyway?

OSI at TechCrunch

As per the current draft, an Open Source AI system should grant freedoms to use the system for any purpose without seeking permission; to allow others to study how the system works and inspect its components; and to modify and share the system for any purpose. Read more.

Calls to Ban Open Source are Misguided and Dangerous

OSI at The New Stack

The cries to “ban open source” first surfaced last autumn—partly a response to Meta and others’ “opening” large language models (LLMs). Lobbyists bandied the phrase around political rallies and across policy circles. Yet many critics could not explain what open source means in any context and were unfamiliar with the Open Source Definition (OSD). Not knowing or understanding the technical details did not appear to be a barrier to sharing a negative opinion. Read more.

Not all ‘open source’ AI models are actually open: here’s a ranking

OSI at the Nature

Many of the large language models that power chatbots claim to be open, but restrict access to code and training data. Read more.

The divide over open-source AI, explained

OSI at the Tech Brew

The Open Source Initiative (OSI), the organization widely seen as responsible for setting that standard, recently embarked on a road trip of sorts to ask around about its proposed definitions. Executive Director Stefano Maffulli told us the complexities of the tech and the pace of its development pose unprecedented challenges. Read more.

Other news

News from OSI affiliates

News from OpenSource.net

7th annual OSPO and Open Source Management Survey

The TODO Group and Linux Foundation Research, in partnership with Cisco, NGINX, Open Source Initiative, InnerSource Commons, and CHAOSS, are excited to be launching the 7th annual OSPO and Open Source Management survey! Take survey.

2024 Tidelift state of the open source maintainer surve

Do you actively maintain one or more open source projects? If so, we’d love to learn from you. All open source maintainers who fill out the survey will receive our brand new 2024 pay the maintainers t-shirt. Take survey.

Events

Upcoming events

Call for proposals

Thanks to our sponsors

New members and renewals

  • Cisco
  • Microsoft
  • Bloomberg
  • SAS
  • Intel
  • Look to the right

Interested in sponsoring, or partnering with, the OSI? Please see our Sponsorship Prospectus and our Annual Report. We also have a dedicated prospectus for the Deep Dive: Defining Open Source AI. Please contact the OSI to find out more about how your company can promote open source development, communities and software.