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The future of foundation models is closed-source

blog.johnluttig.com

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Re: The future of foundation models is closed-source

#11

Post by staunton »

Setting aside the politicking about "Left vs. Right", the post makes a good argument why Meta will "soon" stop open-sourcing their models.

Whether people will eventually give all their data to one of four companies is another matter. For example, it depends a lot on how much further improvements go before we reach diminishing returns and end the current hype cycle. Chips might catch up with how much compute vs. how much (good quality) data you need to build a useful model. I also think it's not entirely impossible that state actors might not go for being ruled by one of four US companies.

Re: The future of foundation models is closed-source

#12

Post by AnthonyMouse »

kelnos wrote: post #10
klelatti wrote: post #7

> Open-source software started as an act of charity – the world owes the likes of Linus Torvalds and Fabrice Bellard for endowing humanity with Linux, Git, and FFmpeg. So Linux is a simple act of charity from one person. If the author so fundamentally misunderstands what Open Source software is in principle and Linux is in particular then I struggle to see how he's qualified to come to such a definitive conclusion on…

Not just that, the author explicitly acknowledges a bias against open source, likening it to socialism (which the author clearly doesn't like) and welfare ("handouts", in the author's words). I don't find their opinions worth considering all too deeply, given that bias. If closed-source consolidation of models happens, it'll be because capitalism encourages and incentivizes centralization and secrecy, not because of…

> Not just that, the author explicitly acknowledges a bias against open source, likening it to socialism (which the author clearly doesn't like) and welfare ("handouts", in the author's words).

Which is extremely bizarre, because the most legitimate criticisms of socialism are its tendency to revert to authoritarianism or otherwise impose crooked rules on unconsenting people.

Whereas open source is... completely voluntary? It's like being opposed to private community organizations because a co-op might break the stranglehold a monopolist has on a market. The only one who doesn't want that is the monopolist.

Which is, incidentally, the reason the US now has a bunch of crooked laws inhibiting non-profits from engaging in things that compete with businesses, e.g. by providing a service for a competitive price near cost rather than entirely for free solely out of donations.

Re: The future of foundation models is closed-source

#13

Post by mistrial9 »

kelnos wrote: post #10
klelatti wrote: post #7

> Open-source software started as an act of charity – the world owes the likes of Linus Torvalds and Fabrice Bellard for endowing humanity with Linux, Git, and FFmpeg. So Linux is a simple act of charity from one person. If the author so fundamentally misunderstands what Open Source software is in principle and Linux is in particular then I struggle to see how he's qualified to come to such a definitive conclusion on…

Not just that, the author explicitly acknowledges a bias against open source, likening it to socialism (which the author clearly doesn't like) and welfare ("handouts", in the author's words). I don't find their opinions worth considering all too deeply, given that bias. If closed-source consolidation of models happens, it'll be because capitalism encourages and incentivizes centralization and secrecy, not because of…

look where he works https://foundersfund.com/our_team

Re: The future of foundation models is closed-source

#14

Post by TaylorAlexander »

kelnos wrote: post #8
SequoiaHope wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow seriously. It’s funny to hear “socialist tendencies from Europe” after having just listened to Yann LeCunn talk about his views on the need for open source AI. He says simply that the world needs diverse views and we can’t have a small number of companies from the west coast of the US serving as gatekeepers to the world’s knowledge. He’s from France and says the French government wouldn’t be satisfied with that a…

> we can’t have a small number of companies from the west coast of the US serving as gatekeepers to the world’s knowledge I've lived on the west coast of the US for 20 years now, and the prospect of this terrifies me. In a "humanity's future is bleak" sort of way.

Yeah I mean, I have lived here my entire life, so 39 years. Honestly it's not like this area is uniquely terrible, though living here does give you lots to point out as problematic, but we simply should not have any single group controlling our information, whether that is silicon valley people, west coast people, Americans, etc etc.
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