The phrase ‘Open Source AI’ gets a definition

While the term “Open Source AI” has been used extensively in recent years, exactly what it means has never been clear — until now.

The Open Source Initiative (OSI) has released a proposed definition it hopes the tech world will accept. According to the new definition, it involves AI systems that consist of components that can be examined and studied. It must also be possible to freely modify the systems for any purpose and share them with other users, according to MIT Technology Review.

By that definition, the AI ​​models from Open AI, Anthropic, Google and Meta cannot be classified as “Open Source AI” because users are not allowed to do what they want with them.