January 30, 2025

Open Source AI: Perspectives from the OSI - OpenObservability Talks S5E08

1 hour 1 minute

We all know pretty well what open source means and what AI means. But what does open source AI mean? Is there even such a thing?

Join us for an intriguing episode as we host Stefano Maffulli, Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative (OSI). The OSI has been the steward of the Open Source Definition for over two decades, and has recently launched its first draft of the Open Source AI Definition—OSAID 1.0—following intense community discussions, and amid corporate and governmental policy making and opinion shaping efforts.

In this engaging fireside chat, host Dotan Horovits and Stefano delve into the evolving role of open source in the age of AI. Stefano shares insights into how open source principles are being applied to artificial intelligence, the challenges of defining openness in this rapidly advancing field, and the impact of OSI’s work in shaping the future of AI innovation. Whether you're a developer, data scientist, FOSS advocate, or simply curious about the intersection of open source and AI, this is an episode you won’t want to miss!

Stefano Maffulli is a leader in the global Open Source community and has experience leading global projects across organisations, partners, and countries. Stefano is a skilled writer and speaker on community building and an active Open Source contributor.

The episode was live-streamed on 21 January 2025, and the video is available at https://youtube.com/live/DIcv2YbFC6c

You can read the recap blog here: https://medium.com/p/5ba89e11c26d

OpenObservability Talks episodes are released monthly, on the last Thursday of each month and are available for listening on your favorite podcast app and on YouTube.

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Show Notes:

00:44 - Episode and guest intro

02:35 - What’s the OSI’s role today

07:33 - Trend of open source projects turning to the dark side

17:38 - AI challenges the open source definition

20:39 - How is open source different in AI than in software?

25:41 - The broken social contract of data

34:17 - White paper by the OSI and Open Future

40:23 - Open Source AI Definition v1.0, industry feedback and roadmap

49:55 - The EU AI Act and legislative work for open source AI

55:31 - What’s next from the OSI

Resources:

Open Source Initiative (OSI): https://opensource.org/

Open Future and OSI - white paper on open source AI: https://opensource.org/data-governance-open-source-ai

Mozilla and Eleuther - white paper on open source AI: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/research/library/towards-best-practices-for-open-datasets-for-llm-training/

Dark Side of Open Source: The Community Strikes Back: https://medium.com/p/400a1a5c679e

Socials:

Twitter:⁠ https://twitter.com/OpenObserv⁠

YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@openobservabilitytalks⁠

Dotan Horovits

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Twitter: https://twitter.com/horovits

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/horovits/

Mastodon: https://fosstodon.org/@horovits

BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/horovits.bsky.social

Stefano Maffulli

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Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/maffulli

Mastodon: @[email protected]

Bluesky: @maffulli.net

Threads: smaffulli

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By Dotan Horovits

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