Politics of Openness in the Age of AI

• In Event: Working with Algorithms, Thinking through Automation

Abstract

Since late 1990s, the rise of private ordering mechanisms, such as permissive copyright licenses, free/open source software has led to new forms of collaboration and innovation. Open content, open access, open data and open science initiatives followed its lead and broadened the genre. Advocates value the environment that supports a recursive public. (Kelty, 2008) There had been debates over the meaning of openness, and many see copyleft as in GNU General Public License or ShareAlike as in Creative Commons as unnecessary restriction for reuses. Those who consider such requirement as instrumental for defending the long-term growth of the commons are fewer in number and often regarded as more radical in approach. With the recent boom in AI, the vast amount of open content and data are now funneled into the industry as free training material, and may be used in ways unforeseeable to their contributors. While exploitation by the commercial entities is not new to the open movement, the recent boom in AI can reopen the debates – what is the purpose of “openness”? Who benefits from “openness”? Does the recursive public need a self-defensive strategy and what would that entail?

Author

• Shun-Ling Chen, Institutum Iurisprudentiae, Academia Sinica