Open Source Approaches for Artificial Intelligence
* Report: The Columbia Convening on Openness and AI. the Columbia Institute of Global Politics and Mozilla Foundation, 2024
"The paper surveys existing approaches to defining openness in AI models and systems, and then proposes a descriptive framework to understand how each component of the foundation model stack contributes to openness."
Description
"During earlier eras of the internet, open source technologies played a core role in promoting innovation and safety. Open source technology provided a core set of building blocks that software developers have used to do everything from create art to design vaccines to develop apps that are used by people all over the world; it is estimated that open source software is worth over $8 trillion in value. And, attempts to limit open innovation — such as export controls on encryption in early web browsers — ended up being counterproductive, further exemplifying the value of openness.
Today, open source approaches for artificial intelligence — and especially for foundation models — offer the promise of similar benefits to society. However, defining and empowering “open source” for foundation models has proven tricky, given its significant differences from traditional software development. This lack of clarity has made it harder to recommend specific approaches and standards for how developers should advance openness and unlock its benefits. Additionally, these conversations about openness in AI have often operated at a high level, making it harder to reason about the benefits and risks from openness in AI. Some policymakers and advocates have blamed open access to AI as the source of certain safety and security risks, often without concrete or rigorous evidence to justify those claims. On the other hand, people often tout the benefits of openness in AI, but without specificity about how to actually harness those opportunities. "
(https://blog.mozilla.org/en/mozilla/ai/new-framework-for-ai-openness-and-innovation/)