What’s of interest? What do we mean when we talk about ‘openness’ in (generative) AI? – Open Thinkering
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This blog post is the result of writing a too-long email in response to someone who wanted to think through what ‘open’ means when it comes to AI. In what follows, I’m going to completely disregard anything relating to copyright or IP. I’m also only going to mention environmental concerns as ‘externalities’. That’s not to downplay anything, but just to keep focused on the issue at hand.
There’s much more to say in this area, but for now just a final word to say that I think that the ‘technical’ openness of LLMs is less interesting than the ‘cultural’ aspect — i.e. the weights rather than the data. Initiatives such as PD12M are a great idea and useful for specific situations, but sometimes I feel like people are stuck in the McLuhan-esque situation of “looking at the present through a rear-view mirror, so that we march backwards into the future.”
The important thing here is the why, rather than over-rotating on the how.
Where is it?: https://dougbelshaw.com/blog/2025/03/21/open-generative-ai/
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