Blog
AI, the Commons, and the limits of copyright
There has been a lot of attention on copyright and generative AI/ML over the last few months. In this essay, I propose a two-fold strategy to tackle this situation. First, it is essential to guarantee that individual creators can opt out of having their works used in AI training. Second, we should implement a levy that redirects a portion of the surplus from training AI on humanity's collective creativity back to the commons.
Civil Society Statement on Democratic Digital Infrastructure
Today, together with more than 40 civil society organizations, we released a Statement on Democratic Digital Infrastructure. In the statement, we call on the EU and Member States to support alternatives to commercial digital infrastructure and promote interoperable, transparent digital spaces that respect privacy, democratic governance, and net neutrality by creating a European Public Digital Infrastructure Fund.
Open Future joins EDRI as a full member
Last weekend, EDRI's general assembly in Belgrade unanimously approved our application for EDRi membership. This membership is a crucial element of our strategy to forge connections between Digital Rights and Access to Knowledge movements
Undermining the foundation of open source AI?
Today, the European Parliament's IMCO and LIBE committees adopted their joint report on the proposed AI Act. The text includes additional safeguards for fundamental rights and an overall more cautious approach to AI. In this post, we provide an in-depth analysis of the implications of the text for open source AI development.
Friction and AI Governance: through the Scale of the City
AI governance captures a wide range of processes and conversations, from internal governance policies for companies to public, national, and transnational regulatory bodies. For this blog series, I intend to map places where friction in this seemingly effortless and inevitable flow of technology occurs.
How Wikipedia can shape the future of AI
The following piece is the first part of a case study on how Wikipedia is positioned to address the challenges of open AI development. It spells out the general argument, which will be followed by more specific suggestions on how a wikiAI mission could look like.
Response to European Commission’s call for evidence on “virtual worlds”
Open Future submitted a response concerning the European Commission's call for evidence on "An EU initiative on virtual worlds: a head start towards the next technological transition". In the submission, we showed why policymakers should consider virtual worlds as Digital Public Spaces where the public interest takes precedence over corporate objectives.
Concerns Over the Impact of the AI Act on Open-Source R&D: LAION’s open letter
Establishing a regulatory framework that achieves the dual objectives of protecting open-source AI systems and mitigating risks of potential harm is a critical imperative for the European Union. Especially since open-source, publicly supported AI systems are crucial digital public infrastructures that would ensure Europe’s sovereignty.
Meet Alicja Peszkowska, the new Engagement Lead
We are pleased to announce that we have welcomed Alicja Peszkowska to the team, as our Engagement Lead. In this role, Alicja will oversee the strategic and operational engagement of Open Future with its primary stakeholders as well as manage our digital communication.
Small is beautiful, but can it scale?
The Initiative for Digital Public Infrastructure published the Three-Legged Stool manifesto, outlining three pillars for building digital public infrastructure.
LAION petitions for a European public AI mission
The LAION proposal calls for a public research facility capable of building large-scale artificial intelligence models. It offers an alternative to corporate development of AI, in which responsible use is ensured in open source environments through the involvement of democratically elected institutions.
