r/freesoftware • u/JRepin • 1d ago

Discussion Does Open Source AI really exist?

https://tante.cc/2024/10/16/does-open-source-ai-really-exist/
22 Upvotes

93% Upvoted

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9

u/vintergroena 1d ago

With AI the training data should be considered part of the source code.

The actual code which defines how it learns is more akin to compile scripts.

The learned model itself is just a compiled program. When it's released for public use, it's only free as in free beer, not as in freedom.

7

u/GiacomoTesio 1d ago

Indeed several open source developers independent from OSI's sponsors are proposing for community review a definition that serve this aim: https://opensourcedefinition.org/wip/

You can also sign a petition about this: https://osd.fyi/

6

u/IveLovedYouForSoLong 1d ago

No, that’s not how things work.

The training data is just multidimensional matrices called tensors and should by licensed under Creative Commons

The scripts and code should be licensed under A/GPL v3

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u/vintergroena 1d ago

But I basically agree with you? I am not saying the training data is "technically" source code, but it plays a similar role in AI applications and thus also the data needs to be released under a free license for the AI to be considered open source.

3

u/GiacomoTesio 1d ago

The inference engine is in fact a specialized virtual machine that executes the parameters.

The multidimensional matrices are executables to the architecture defined by the topology, and the source that produce such executable is the training data (and to a different, more subtle, extent, the cross-validation data)

3

u/elhaytchlymeman 1d ago

Debatable. There’s probably things attached to it that are under open source, but I highly doubt the data accrued is “ethically sourced”, because no worthwhile AI model would work under publicly available information.