Posts
Protecting Creatives or Impeding Progress?
As generative machine learning (ML) becomes more widespread, the issue of copyright and ML input is back in focus. This post explores the Eu legal framework governing the use of copyrighted works for training ML systems and the potential for collective action by artists and creators.
Paradox of Open Redux
After many conversations on the Paradox of Open, and the series of responses to their essay, Alek Tarkowski and Paul Keller share their reflections on the issue of addressing the power imbalances in the open ecosystems.
Straw Men and Weak Reeds: Persistent Myths About The Open Movement
James Boyle reacts to Jan J. Zygmuntowski's opinion on Paradox of Open: Responses.
Gatekeepers of open
As a contribution to his fellowship, Jan J. Zygmuntowski wrote an opinion on the Paradox of Open, which builds – and responds to – the series of responses to the Paradox of Open.
How will the AI Act deal with open source AI systems?
None of the approaches dealing with open source AI systems in the AI Act address the concerns related to chilling effects on open source AI development so far. The Parliament still has the opportunity to address these concerns without jeopardizing the AI Act’s overall regulatory objective by leveraging on the inherent transparency of open source, writes Paul Keller.
Open Future Fellowship 2023
We are looking for two Fellows to contribute to our work on advancing digital public space and designing the future of open. The application submission deadline is 31 December 2022.
The EU will fund a feasibility study for a public repository of public domain works
In the 2023 budget, the EP allocated funding for a pilot project to explore the feasibility of a Public EU directory of works in the public domain and under free licenses, something that Paul Keller and Felix Reda suggested in a white paper in 2021.
A new civil society Coalition to promote global access to knowledge
Thirty-two civil society organizations worldwide launch the Access to Knowledge (A2K) Coalition to improve access to knowledge around the globe.
Launch of the AI_Commons white paper
We are publishing today, as a request for comments, a white paper on understanding the implications of face recognition training with CC-licensed photographs.
Net neutrality: defending the internet “as we know it” is not enough
Instead of focusing only on fixing the platforms, the EU must introduce measures that would allow the emergence of alternatives to the current fundamentally flawed system of “online malls.”
Copyright rules for AI generated visuals will determine the future of synthetic worlds
Instead of analyzing the functioning of image generators through the lens of copyright, we should ask ourselves a normative question: Why should we want that copyright applies to the visual output of these generators?
Publications
The Growth of responsible AI licensing
The RAIL licenses are gaining ground, but permissive sharing is still the prominent norm governing the sharing of ML models on huggingface.co. This analysis aims at understanding how licenses are used by developers making ML model-related code and or data publicly available.
AI_Commons
The AI_Commons Final Report summarizes our findings and offers recommendations for commons-based governance of AI datasets.
Paradox of Open: Responses
We asked leaders and experts from the broad open movement to respond to the Paradox of Open, and published their responses in an online anthology.
AI_Commons white paper
This white paper presents the case of using openly licensed photographs for AI facial recognition training datasets. The analysis is part of our exploration of how AI training datasets, and works included in those datasets, can be better governed and shared as a commons.
Proposal to leverage Article 17 to build a public repository of Public Domain and openly licensed works.
White-paper on how to to leverage Article 17 of the Copyright in the Digital Single Market directive to build a public repository of Public Domain and openly licensed works.
The Paradox of Open
The Paradox of Open is the essay that we published in March 2021 to mark the launch of Open Future. In this essay we reflect on almost 20 years of our involvement in the open movement.
Events
November 30, 2022
Open Future Salon #2. Launch of Paradox of Open: Responses
On 30 November at 17:00 CET (16:00 UTC), online, we hosted an Open Future Salon to launch "Paradox of Open: Responses."
September 15, 2021
Open Future Sessions Season 2: Conversation of the openness of today and tomorrow
A collection of the summaries of the conversations we had with thought leaders from the Open Movement during Season 2 of the Open Future Sessions (September 2021-June 2022), to address the key challenges that Open faces today.
September 21, 2021
Protecting Open Licenses in the EU Copyright Reform at CC Global Summit 2021
Presentation of the White Paper: "Proposal to Leverage Art.17 of CDSM Directive to build a public repository of Public Domain and openly licensed works"
September 20, 2021
Future of Open Sessions at CC Global Summit 2021
The CC Global Summit is among the events that create the beat of the Open Movement. In this 2021 Summit edition we teamed up with Library Futures, Wikimedia and Invest in Open for a series of interrelated conversations about the Future of Open.
October 29, 2021
Global Congress on Intellectual Property & the Public Interest
Workshop on Copyright and the Digital Economy
September 20, 2021
Rethink Design
DCODE Summer School 2021: Introducing DCODE challenges, outlining new design ideals for our digital future, and setting the ground for a shared vocabulary.
