The case for open source AI
Nathan Benaich, Alex Chalmers,
Air Street Press,
Feb 09, 2024
Imagine a web today where users "face a binary choice: AT&T's broadband or AOL's antiquated dial-up." Imagine an internet dominated by Microsoft web servers and an antique Internet Explorer browser. This is the web without open source, write the authors as they depict the history of technology as "one of a struggle between openness and its enemies." Now the same struggle in being played out in the arena of AI. "Opponents of open source aren't merely expressing concern, they're acting. Well-funded AI safety organizations have lobbied for sweeping rules that would ban existing open source models." I agree - no small part of today's push for AI ethics is intended specifically to achieve regulatory capture, though ironically most of the dangers of AI are posed directly by commercial entities that would benefit as a result. Image from the State of AI report from Air Street Capital, a 163 page Google slide deck that is strongly recommended (it was my breakfast reading for today)
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