Episode 21: The True Meaning of 'Open Source' (feat. Sarah West and Andreas Liesenfeld), November 20 2023

Researchers Sarah West and Andreas Liesenfeld join Alex and Emily to examine what software companies really mean when they say their work is 'open source,' and call for greater transparency.

This episode was recorded on November 20, 2023.

Dr. Sarah West is the managing director of the AI Now Institute. Her award-winning research and writing blends social science, policy, and historical methods to address the intersection of technology, labor, antitrust, and platform accountability. And she’s the author of the forthcoming book, "Tracing Code."

Dr. Andreas Liesenfeld is assistant professor in both the Centre for Language Studies and department of language and communication at Radboud University in the Netherlands. He’s a co-author on research from this summer critically examining the true “open source” nature of models like LLaMA and ChatGPT – concluding.

References:

Yann LeCun testifies on 'open source' work at Meta

Meta launches LLaMA 2

Stanford Human-Centered AI's new transparency index

• Coverage in The Atlantic
• Eleuther critique
• Margaret Mitchell critique

Opening up ChatGPT (Andreas Liesenfeld's work)

• Webinar

Fresh AI Hell:

Sam Altman out at OpenAI

The Verge: Meta disbands their Responsible AI team

Ars Technica: Lawsuit claims AI with 90 percent error rate forces elderly out of rehab, nursing homes

Call-out of Stability and others' use of “fair use” in AI-generated art

A fawning profile of OpenAI's Ilya Sutskever

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Music by Toby Menon.
Artwork by Naomi Pleasure-Park.
Production by Christie Taylor.