It is easy to disagree with Mark Zuckerberg. There is a lot to dislike about the things that he allowed to transpire while running Meta. That said, it is also easy to start warming up to him.
When it comes to AI, he is nailing it.
This week, he and Daniel Ek, founder of Spotify, presented their case as to why AI needs to be open source.
open-source ensures power isn’t concentrated among a few large players and, as with the Internet before it, creates a level playing field.
They went on to say:
with more open-source developers than America has, Europe is particularly well placed to make the most of this open-source AI wave
It is spot on if you ask me.
Big Tech Didn't Earn Our Trust
We do not have to go very far to see how Big Tech has abused its power.
Of course, Zuckerberg is just as guilty throughout the years. However, we have Google being found guilty of monopolistic practices when it comes to search. At the same time, Amazon is abusive towards its sellers, exerting great control over them, most often to the detriment of the vendors on the platform.
The challenge here is the stakes are getting higher. We are seeing more powerful technologies rolling out. This means that Big Tech's abusive ways would only continue on a larger scale.
Open source helps to combat this.
What made Zuckerberg see the light?
To be honest, he did not suddenly turn altruistic. Instead, we can sum this up by being smart.
He is not gifting something to the world. To the contrary, he is positioning Meta as the centerpiece of what he hopes is a new ecosystem system built around these models. Facebook was shut out of the mobile game and he is not about to allow that to happen again.
Thus, Zuck is looking to insert in company right at the center of all that is taking place.
Again, smart move.
Massive Expansion
Open source is going to drive AI development to even greater heights. The problem with closed models, aside from the obvious, is they do not scale quickly enough. There is a limitation to the brainpower one organization can employ.
When we look at the open source community, that is only growing. We are seeing more developers jump on all kinds of coding. Naturally, we would be remise if we didn't mention how there could be a time when we are all part of the coding army, sending our agents out to build whatever innovations we come up with.
This is something that can only flourish in the open realm.
There is another consideration: when things are open source, they can be attacked from all angles. The code can be tested over and over, by people from anywhere. Vulnerabilities are found and patches can be deployed. Solutions can come from anywhere.
If things do start to go awry, people can immediately produce fixes. This might not be the case in a closed realm. Only those who are privy to what is taking place can even respond. Of course, corporations have repeatedly hid when something is going wrong.
This is not the case with the open source community. It is hard to hide the bugs in the system if many are looking.
Many fret about the future of humanity regarding AI. While we cannot know how things will unfold, I can state that it is unlikely it is in our best interest to have the likes of Sam Altman controlling everything.
He believes his company, OpenAi, can be worth $100 trillion. There is a lot riding on him winning this race. He is going to do whatever he has to for that end to be achieved.
And it is exactly whey we need open source models available to us.