Members Newsletter – March 2025
This month, I’ve been reflecting on the importance of community contributions to everything we do at OSI. When Open Source advocates participate in our discussions, we make good things happen for the Open Source community as a whole.
This was particularly evident as we worked together over the past two years to craft the Open Source AI Definition. Now our hard work is paying off: the OSAID is serving as guidance and being used to classify projects. For example, the French PEReN (Center of expertise for digital platform regulation) hosts a tool to compare different GenAI systems, using the evaluation criteria contained in the OSAID. Also, the startup Oumi made a list of AI systems/models that comply with the OSAID. Please let me know if you know of other examples. In particular, I’m curious: Are you aware of any AI system that passes the Open Source AI Definition but *don’t release* the training datasets? We’d appreciate the feedback so we continue to validate the Definition: The mandate by the board for 2025 is in fact to monitor the AI ecosystem and propose a plan on how to update the OSAID by the end of the year.
Another way you can help our community is by sharing your experiences and insights. To this end, we’re excited to announce a revamp of Opensource.net. The site has been reworked based on user feedback to improve user experience. The new logo is a representation of people in a community and the color scheme have a story to tell. Check the blog to find out more.
I’m grateful for our dedicated community and hope you will continue to participate proactively in our discussions. You’ll find in this newsletter a listing of upcoming opportunities to contribute.
Stefano Maffulli
Executive Director, OSI
I hold weekly office hours on Fridays with OSI members: book time if you want to chat about OSI’s activities, if you want to volunteer or have suggestions.
News from the OSI
Meta’s LLaMa license is still not Open Source
At a time when Meta is trying to redefine Open Source for their own benefit and at the expense of our freedom, we call on the whole Open Source community to unite and call out Meta’s open washing.
OSI in the news
Open source LLMs hit Europe’s digital sovereignty roadmap
Article from TechCrunch
In traditional software, the perennial struggle between open source and proprietary revolves around the “true” meaning of “open source.” This can be resolved by deferring to the formal “definition” as per the Open Source Initiative, the industry stewards of what are and aren’t legitimate open source licenses. More recently, the OSI has formed a definition of “open source AI”.
DeepSeek goes beyond “open weights” AI with plans for source code release
Article from Ars Technica
It’s currently unclear whether DeepSeek’s planned open source release will also include the code the team used when training the model. That kind of training code is necessary to meet the Open Source Initiative’s formal definition of “Open Source AI,” which was finalized last year after years of study. A truly open AI also must include “sufficiently detailed information about the data used to train the system so that a skilled person can build a substantially equivalent system,” according to OSI.
DeepSeek goes beyond “open weights” AI with plans for source code release
Article from TechCrunch
“The point of having definitions is to have criteria that can be scored, and focusing on licensing is how that is accomplished,” Maffulli said in a statement issued to TechCrunch. “The global community and industry have come to rely on the Open Source Definition and now the Open Source AI Definition as objective measures that they can rely on.”
Other news
News from OSI affiliates:
Eclipse Foundation: Strengthening Open Source Security: Eclipse Foundation Selected by the Sovereign Tech Agency for a New Service Agreement
Apereo Foundation: The Apereo Foundation and Ithaka S+R Awarded a $50,000 NSF Grant to Host Workshop on Advancing Sustainability for Open Source Research Software
Mozilla Foundation: Updates on Mozilla’s Leadership and Growth Planning
Creative Commons: From Strategy to Action: Focus Areas for 2025
Digital Public Goods Alliance: 2024 State of the DPG Ecosystem Report is now live!
Software Heritage: Takeaways from the Software Heritage Symposium 2025
Software Heritage: Paving the way for open and responsible artificial intelligence with Software Heritage
EleutherAI: The View from 30,000 Feet: Preface to the Second EleutherAI Retrospective
Several OSI affiliates: Meet the Mentoring organizations of GSoC 2025!
Events
Upcoming events
SCALE 22x (March 6-9, 2025 – Pasadena)
FOSS Backstage (March 10-11, 2025 – Berlin)
All Things Open AI (March 17-18, 2025 – Durhan)
The Linux Foundation Member Summit (March 18-20, 2025 – Napa)
The Free Software Legal and Licensing Workshop (April 9-11 – Essen)
Open Expo Europe (May 7-8 – Madrid)
PyCon US (May 14-22 – Pittsburgh)
Open Source Founders Summit (May 19-20 – Paris / OSI is a sponsor)
FOSDEM recap
The OSI was one of the co-organizers of the “Open Source In The European Legislative Landscape and Beyond” devroom at FOSDEM bringing together European lawmakers and the Open Source community, with participation from Stefano Maffulli, Simon Phipps, and Jordan Maris. Video recordings and event recaps are now available. FOSDEM was preceded by the Annual EU Open Source Policy Summit and the EU Open Source Awards Ceremony:
OpenForum Europe Celebrates Exciting Milestones at Annual EU Open Source Policy Summit
Open Source in Europe Enters a New Era with a Successful First European Open Source Awards Ceremony
Interview with Jordan Maris: I do not see a way of building trustworthy AI that’s not open
Open Source In The European Legislative Landscape and Beyond
Why Europe needs the OSAID: Openwashing and the AI act, by Jordan Maris
An Introduction to the Open Source AI definition, by Stefano Maffulli
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Source: opensource.org