When I joined the Open Source Initiative (OSI) in February, the organization had been engaging in global standards and European policy discussions for seven years and had been working in the U.S. policy space on a part-time basis for the last two and a half years. Led in the U.S. by Deb Bryant, OSI informed public comment responses to requests for information from the Biden Administration on open weights in AI models and collaborated with like-minded organizations on a joint response and listening session. OSI also brought the Open Source community to key discussions on cybersecurity run by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). These efforts were a recognition that the Open Source community should contribute to U.S. public policy discussions. Today, the evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and the geopolitical landscape have made the Open Source community’s participation in U.S. public policy even more critical.
As the full-time Senior U.S. Policy Manager, my role at OSI is to educate policymakers about the benefits of Open Source software, track policy developments at the state and federal level, and ultimately, ensure that Open Source developers can continue doing their work. Concerns of security in the software supply chain and the rise of AI have seeded policy proposals that have the potential to impact Open Source developers in new ways or in ways that are hard to predict. That’s why now, more than ever, the Open Source community should be at the table when these proposals are being discussed to make sure those developing the policy understand Open Source software development and its existence in the vast majority of technology.
For example, let’s consider state legislation aimed at regulating AI systems that may cause harm. It is reasonable to set guardrails around technology that may harm consumers. However, AI systems that are used by a consumer may contain Open Source components from someone who created the code and openly licensed it but were not involved in deploying the AI system. Making code available for others is a core principle of Open Source. Open Source developers share code because they want others to build on it but it does not mean they endorse what is done with the code later on. Understanding the distinction is important so that policies do not inadvertently punish those sharing their software openly for the benefit of everyone (see our two-pager).
The good news is that the Open Source community has a plethora of expertise in Open Source software development and can educate policymakers about these distinctions as well as the general benefits of Open Source. A large part of educating policymakers is working with their staff. Legislative branch staff, either in the U.S. Congress or in state legislatures, are typically responsible for a range of different issues and only have the time to develop a general sense of a topic, but not deep expertise. On the other hand, executive branch staff at all levels of government are more likely to have deep expertise on one or two issues. It’s important for our community to remember that the knowledge base of policy staff varies significantly and we must meet people where they are at.
Ultimately, U.S. technology policy will be made and the Open Source community can either be part of the discussion or a casual observer. In my mind, we should be proactive about speaking with policymakers instead of waiting for them to come to us. Further, we must be strategic about how we engage to ensure our message is clear and reaches the right people in government. Fresh off my first All Things Open conference earlier this month, I’m excited about what lies ahead and working with the community to build resilient structures for policy engagement. If you are a nonprofit organization that wants to learn more and participate in U.S. policy discussions, consider joining the Open Policy Alliance (OPA). The OPA brings together nonprofit public benefit organizations to educate and inform U.S policy decisions related to Open Source software, content, research, and education. It’s free to join!
Source: opensource.org