As many will know, open source and AI are intrinsically linked, given that collaboration and shared data are pivotal to developing AI systems. As well-meaning as the AI Act might be, critics argue that it could have significant unintended consequences for the open source community, which in turn could hamper the progress of AI. The crux of the problem is that the Act would likely create legal liability for general purpose AI systems (GPAI), and bestow more power and control to the big tech firms given that independent open source developers don’t have the resources to contend with legal wrangles. […] “The AI act is so crucial,” Dohmke said onstage. “This policy could well set the precedent for how the world regulates AI. It is foundationally important. It is important for European technological leadership, and for the future of the European economy itself. It must be fair and balanced to the open source community.”
Dohmke said that the AI Act can bring “the benefits of AI according to the European values and fundamental rights,” adding that lawmakers have a big part to play in achieving this. “This is why I believe that the open source developers should be exempt from the AI act,” he said. “Because ultimately this comes down to people. The open source community is not a community of entities. It’s a community of people and the compliance burden should fall on entities, it should fall on companies that are shipping products. OSS developers are often just volunteers, many of them are working two jobs. They are hobbyists and scientists, academics and doctors, professors and university students all alike, and they don’t usually stand to profit from their contributions. They certainly don’t have big budgets, or their own compliance department.”
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