• Concerns regarding the "Open Source AI Definition" 1.0-RC2

    From Mo Zhou@21:1/5 to All on Sat Oct 26 20:10:01 2024
    Hi folks,

    While diverse issues persist, the world and the software ecosystem is
    still proceeding
    with the advancement of AI. As a particular type of software, AI is
    quite different
    from the paradigm of traditional software, since there are more
    components involved
    as an integral parts of the AI system. People gradually realize the Open
    Source
    Definition[3], derived from DFSG[4], could no longer cover AI software
    very well.

    To answer the question "what kind of AI is free software / open source",
    there are
    multiple relevant efforts in recent years. Six years ago we discussed
    the same question[6],
    and as a result, I drafted an unofficial document named ML-Policy[5]; In
    the recent
    one or two years, OSI started the drafting process of "Open Source AI Definition" (OSAID),
    and its 1.0-RC2 version[1] is available for public review, and about to
    be formally
    released; FSF is working on a similar effort concurrently[2].

    I think the upcoming of release of OSAID will make a big impact on the
    open source
    ecosystem. However, while OSAID starts from DFSG and the software
    freedom definition,
    it is very concerning to me. Here I'll only discuss the most pressing
    issue -- data.

    The current OSAID-1.0-RC2 only requires "data information", but not the "original
    training data" to be available. That effectively allows "Open Source AI"
    to hide
    their original training datasets. A group of people expressed their
    concerns and
    disagreement about the draft on OSI's forum[7][8][9][10], emphasizing
    the negative
    impacts of allowing "Open Source AI" to hide their original training
    datasets.

    Allowing "Open Source AI" to hide their original training dataset is
    nothing different
    than setting up a dataset barrier protecting the monopoly. The "open
    source community"
    around such "Open Source AI" is only able to conduct further development
    based on
    such AI, but not able to inspect the process of how the original piece
    of "Open
    Source AI" is produced, and not able to improve the "Open Souce AI" itself. This leads to many implications including but not limited to security
    and bias issues.
    For instance, without being able to access the original training data of
    an "Open
    Source AI", once those "Open Source AI" starts to say harmful or toxic
    things,
    or starts to deliver advertisements, nobody other than the first party
    is able
    to diagnose and fix the bias issue or rip the advertisement off and
    produce an
    improved AI. In the sense of traditional open source software this looks ridiculous
    because you can easily modify its source code, ripping off the
    advertisement pop up
    window, and re-compile it.

    My mind remains mostly the same from 6 years ago. And after 5~6 years,
    the most
    important concept in ML-Policy remains to be ToxicCandy, which is
    exactly AI released under
    open source license with their training data hidden.

    I felt OSI destines to draft something I disagree with some time ago.
    And upon the
    release of OSAID-1.0, it will make a huge, irreversible impact. I could
    not convince
    OSI to change their mind, but I do not want to see free software
    communities being
    impacted by the OSAID and start to compromise software freedom.

    No data, no trust. No data, no security. No data, no freedom[11].

    Maybe it is time for us to build a consensus on how we tell whether a
    piece of
    AI is DFSG-compliant or not, instead of waiting for ftp-masters to
    interpret those
    binary blobs case-by-case.

    Do we need a GR to reach a consensus?

    [1] https://opensource.org/ai/drafts/the-open-source-ai-definition-1-0-rc2
    [2] https://www.fsf.org/news/fsf-is-working-on-freedom-in-machine-learning-applications
    [3] https://opensource.org/osd
    [4] https://www.debian.org/social_contract
    [5] https://salsa.debian.org/deeplearning-team/ml-policy/-/blob/master/ML-Policy.rst
    [6] https://lwn.net/Articles/760142/
    [7] https://discuss.opensource.org/t/training-data-access/152
    [8] https://discuss.opensource.org/t/list-of-unaddressed-issues-of-osaid-rc2/650 [9] https://discuss.opensource.org/t/what-does-preferred-form-really-mean-in-open-source/625
    [10] https://discuss.opensource.org/t/the-open-source-ish-ai-definition-osaid/580 [11] The freedom to study, change, and improve the AI.

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  • From Stefano Zacchiroli@21:1/5 to Mo Zhou on Sat Oct 26 22:30:01 2024
    On Sat, Oct 26, 2024 at 10:41:12AM -0700, Mo Zhou wrote:
    I drafted an unofficial document named ML-Policy[5]

    [5]: https://salsa.debian.org/deeplearning-team/ml-policy/-/blob/master/ML-Policy.rst
    [...]
    Maybe it is time for us to build a consensus on how we tell whether a
    piece of AI is DFSG-compliant or not, instead of waiting for
    ftp-masters to interpret those binary blobs case-by-case.

    Do we need a GR to reach a consensus?

    A vote is not a good tool to build consensus (quite the contrary), but
    it could be an effective decision-making tool.

    Before getting in to that procedural question, though, do you (or
    anyone) know what ftpmasters think of the ML-Policy? Because if, say,
    they agree with it, it would be enough for them to adopt/endorse that
    policy to turn it into the an official Debian policy on this matter.

    (In case of doubt: mine is a real question, I have no idea what
    fptmasters think about this matter. It just seems important to me to
    find that out, before considering a GR that overlaps with ftpmasters'
    delegated responsibilities.)

    Cheers
    --
    Stefano Zacchiroli . zack@upsilon.cc . https://upsilon.cc/zack _. ^ ._
    Full professor of Computer Science o o o \/|V|\/ Télécom Paris, Polytechnic Institute of Paris o o o </> <\> Co-founder & CSO Software Heritage o o o o /\|^|/\ Mastodon: https://mastodon.xyz/@zacchiro '" V "'

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  • From David Bremner@21:1/5 to Mo Zhou on Sun Oct 27 14:00:01 2024
    Mo Zhou <lumin@debian.org> writes:

    My mind remains mostly the same from 6 years ago. And after 5~6 years,
    the most important concept in ML-Policy remains to be ToxicCandy,
    which is exactly AI released under open source license with their
    training data hidden.

    Although I'm not involved with machine learning (aka "AI") in Debian, I
    do feel pretty strongly that secret training data is wrong for software
    in Debian main. So consider this a note of support.

    While I agree with Stefano's later followup that GR's are not good tools
    for building concensus, I'm not sure such policy decision is really in
    the spirit of the FTP master delegation. I recognize that my skepticism
    is influenced by the fact that I would consider following the proposed
    "OSAID" model to be a substantial weakening of the DFSG.

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  • From Stefano Zacchiroli@21:1/5 to David Bremner on Sun Oct 27 16:50:01 2024
    On Sun, Oct 27, 2024 at 09:00:07AM -0300, David Bremner wrote:
    While I agree with Stefano's later followup that GR's are not good tools
    for building concensus, I'm not sure such policy decision is really in
    the spirit of the FTP master delegation. I recognize that my skepticism
    is influenced by the fact that I would consider following the proposed "OSAID" model to be a substantial weakening of the DFSG.

    But who's saying that Debian will follow OSAID? Historically, it is OSI
    that has followed Debian, not the other way around. And the only mention
    of "open source" in our founding documents is to point out that the OSD
    was based on the DFSG; everything else is about "free software". AFAICT
    OSI decisions do not influence Debian policies in any way.

    Re: GR, I'd be totally fine with one. (And I'd personally vote in favor
    of a text that states that Debian-acceptable ML models should come with DFSG-compliant training datasets.) I just not want to use the GR tool as
    a hammer against a delegated team if no override is needed.

    I don't understand your argument that this decision is not in the realm
    of the ftpmaster activities. How could it *not* be, given they are the
    team deciding NEW queue acceptance, and that most notably they do so
    based on licensing aspects?

    Cheers
    --
    Stefano Zacchiroli . zack@upsilon.cc . https://upsilon.cc/zack _. ^ ._
    Full professor of Computer Science o o o \/|V|\/ Télécom Paris, Polytechnic Institute of Paris o o o </> <\> Co-founder & CSO Software Heritage o o o o /\|^|/\ Mastodon: https://mastodon.xyz/@zacchiro '" V "'

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  • From David Bremner@21:1/5 to Stefano Zacchiroli on Sun Oct 27 17:50:01 2024
    Stefano Zacchiroli <zack@debian.org> writes:


    I don't understand your argument that this decision is not in the realm
    of the ftpmaster activities. How could it *not* be, given they are the
    team deciding NEW queue acceptance, and that most notably they do so
    based on licensing aspects?


    I didn't really mean to trigger a governance debate, just express that I thought the decision at hand went beyond what I think of as ftp-master's mission.

    Policy 2.2.1 says "Every package in main must comply with the DFSG.",
    and then points to the ftp-master REJECT-FAQ as "the project’s current working interpretation of the DFSG." By "spirit of the delegation", I
    meant "interpreting the DFSG". For me training-data-less models are
    clearly incompatible with the DFSG, so I am uncomfortable with
    potentially accepting them as "interpreting the DFSG".

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  • From Charles Plessy@21:1/5 to All on Mon Oct 28 13:20:01 2024
    Thanks Mo for the heads-up,

    and I agree with what you wrote.

    Also I find it very worrisome that the FSF and the OSI come with two definitions about AI software freedom that are radically different.

    Until now, FSF-free and OSI-open definitions have kept a such a large
    overlap in practice, that we can write on our hompeage that "Debian is
    made of free and open source software", without anybody finding this
    definition confusing. And as we also write "and will always be 100%
    free", I wonder if this was a masterpiece of farseeing.

    I worry that if there are two competing definitions, OSI's version will
    become the refuge of those who deliberately want to leverage as many
    obstacles as possible to the freedom of their users, while profiting
    from calling themselves Open Source.

    If the divide persists, I want Debian to chose the side of freedom. And
    maybe the consequence will be that we stop calling ourselves open source because the OSI would be killing its brand. If the OSI cares about it,
    maybe we can send them a message telling that?

    Also, we can also call to the people and organisations who are currently
    listed as endorsers to think again about the divide they are about to
    support if the current OSI draft is accepted?

    https://opensource.org/ai/endorsements

    Cheers,

    Charles

    --
    Charles Plessy Nagahama, Yomitan, Okinawa, Japan
    Debian Med packaging team http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med Tooting from work, https://fediscience.org/@charles_plessy Tooting from home, https://framapiaf.org/@charles_plessy

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  • From Stefano Zacchiroli@21:1/5 to Jonathan Carter on Tue Oct 29 12:20:01 2024
    On Mon, Oct 28, 2024 at 09:53:31PM +0200, Jonathan Carter wrote:
    The companies [...] want to restrict what you can actually use it
    for, and call it open source? And then OSI makes a definition that
    seems carefully crafted to let these kind of licenses slip through?

    The licensing terms for the Meta Llama models are indeed horrific, but I
    don't understand your point here. In order to be OSAID compliant, Meta
    will precisely have to change those licensing terms and make them DFSG-compliant. That would be a *good* thing for the world and would fix
    the main thing you are upset about.

    And Meta is not liking that idea. Meta is, right now, lobbying EU
    regulators to convince them that what should count as "open source AI"
    for the purposes of the EU AI Act is their (Meta's) version, rather than
    OSAID.

    I have personally fought (and lost) during the OSAID definition process
    to make access to training data mandatory in the definition. So while
    I'm certainly not against criticizing OSAID, we should do that for the
    right reasons.

    Cheers

    PS To make Llama models OSAID-compliant Meta, in addition to (1)
    changing the model license, will also have to: (2) provide "a listing
    of all publicly available training data and where to obtain it", and
    (3) release under DFSG-compatible terms their entire training
    pipeline (currently unreleased). I don't think they will ever get
    there. But if they do, these would also be good things for the world.
    Not *as good* as having access to the entire training dataset, but
    good nonetheless.

    --
    Stefano Zacchiroli . zack@upsilon.cc . https://upsilon.cc/zack _. ^ ._
    Full professor of Computer Science o o o \/|V|\/ Télécom Paris, Polytechnic Institute of Paris o o o </> <\> Co-founder & CSO Software Heritage o o o o /\|^|/\ Mastodon: https://mastodon.xyz/@zacchiro '" V "'

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  • From Jeremy Stanley@21:1/5 to Jonathan Carter on Tue Oct 29 17:20:01 2024
    On 2024-10-29 17:45:20 +0200 (+0200), Jonathan Carter wrote:
    [...]
    What is the OSI's motivation for creating such an incredibly lax definition for open source AI? Meta is already calling their absolutely-not-open-source model Open Source and promoting it as such, without as much as a *peep* from the OSI condemning the abuse of the term. (although, while doing a quick search to make sure that's true, I found this link from OSI to an article that keeps insisting that LLama3 is open source: https://opensource.org/press-mentions/meta-inches-toward-open-source-ai-with-new-llama-3-1)
    [...]

    The earliest comment I'm aware of from them on that specific point
    is this article (2023-07-20):

    https://opensource.org/blog/metas-llama-2-license-is-not-open-source

    Meta is confusing “open source” with “resources available to
    some users under some conditions,” two very different things.
    We’ve asked them to correct their misstatement.

    --
    Jeremy Stanley

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  • From Stefano Zacchiroli@21:1/5 to Jonathan Carter on Tue Oct 29 18:30:02 2024
    [ reordering quoted text ]

    Hello Jonathan,

    On Tue, Oct 29, 2024 at 05:45:20PM +0200, Jonathan Carter wrote:
    On 2024/10/29 13:03, Stefano Zacchiroli wrote:

    To make Llama models OSAID-compliant Meta [...] will also have to:
    [...] (3) release under DFSG-compatible terms their entire training pipeline (currently unreleased).

    Again, the OSAID doesn't particularly care about DFSG-compatible, so
    not sure where point 3 comes in here, but if there's something obvious
    I missed, I'm all ears.

    "DFSG-compliant" was a Debian-slip of mine. I meant "OSD-compliant" (the standard OSD, not OSAID). Sorry about that, but the two definitions are
    de facto equivalent for the purpose of our discussion here.

    Now, about the code of the training pipeline, OSAID [1] has this to say:

    Code: The complete source code used to train and run the system. The
    Code shall represent the full specification of how the data was
    processed and filtered, and how the training was done. Code shall be
    made available under OSI-approved licenses.

    Where "OSI-approved licenses" refers to [2] (sure, an explicit link or
    mention would be better, but that is what that expression has always
    meant in the context of OSD).

    [1]: https://opensource.org/ai/open-source-ai-definition
    [2]: https://opensource.org/licenses

    In order to be OSAID compliant, Meta will precisely have to change
    those licensing terms and make them DFSG-compliant. That would be a
    *good* thing for the world and would fix the main thing you are
    upset about.

    Unfortunately that's not the case. Meta won't have to make Llama3 DFSG compliant in order to be OSAID compliant, since OSAID as not as robust as
    the OSD.

    That's not-not the case :-). Here is what OSAID says about model
    parameters (highlight mine):

    Parameters: The model parameters, such as weights or other
    configuration settings. Parameters shall be made available under *OSI-approved terms*.
    [...]
    The Open Source AI Definition does not require a specific legal
    mechanism for assuring that the model parameters are *freely available
    to all*. They may be free by their nature or a license or other legal instrument may be required to ensure their freedom.

    AFAIR, in the early days of the OSAID process, the requirements for the
    weights were the same of the training code, i.e., under an "OSI-approved license". Then it was pointed out by lawyers and legal scholars that
    there is not always an applicable *license* for a matrix of floats. They
    might not be protectable by "intellectual property" at all (we don't
    know yet), or be in the public domain, or any other number of weird
    legal cases. Hence it was not appropriate to use the "OSI-approved
    license" expression and OSI picked the alternative expression
    "OSI-approved terms". But the intent is that, no matter what legal
    regime applies to the weights, they should grant to users the
    traditional 4 freedoms, which are defined earlier on in the OSAID.

    I agree that it could be better written in the definition, or at least clarified in the FAQ. But there is no doubt whatsoever that a violation
    of any OSD point on the licensing terms (or whatever else applies) of
    the model weights would disqualify an AI system to be OSAID-compliant.

    Hope this clarifies,
    Cheers
    --
    Stefano Zacchiroli . zack@upsilon.cc . https://upsilon.cc/zack _. ^ ._
    Full professor of Computer Science o o o \/|V|\/ Télécom Paris, Polytechnic Institute of Paris o o o </> <\> Co-founder & CSO Software Heritage o o o o /\|^|/\ Mastodon: https://mastodon.xyz/@zacchiro '" V "'

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  • From Gunnar Wolf@21:1/5 to All on Wed Oct 30 08:50:01 2024
    Hello Mo Zhou,

    Mo Zhou dijo [Sat, Oct 26, 2024 at 10:41:12AM -0700]:
    Hi folks,

    While diverse issues persist, the world and the software ecosystem is still proceeding with the advancement of AI. As a particular type of software, AI is
    quite different from the paradigm of traditional software, since there are more components involved as an integral parts of the AI system. People gradually realize the Open Source Definition[3], derived from DFSG[4], could no longer cover AI software very well.
    (...)

    I thank you wholeheartedly for bringing up this important topic, and for doing so this quickly (given the OSAID was just approved this past weekend).

    I am still starting to read the answers to your mail. I believe starting a GR is
    a step in the right direction, as it is our only way to (formally) query the opinion of all of the project's members and coming up with a strong declaration (of course, risking it to be... for, against, or many flavors of NotA 😉). I agree, of course, with Zack: A vote is not a good tool to build consensus. It is, however, the right tool to find the opinion of everybody who cares to voice it. And it is useful for speaking out a clear voice in the name of the whole project.

    As for the scope of this decision coinciding with the ftpmasters' delegation, I agree it is a tough spot; it would have to be carefully worded (and, if possible, done so with the participation of ftpmasters, when we know their position on this issue).

    But I believe this issue goes beyond just interpreting the OSAID regarding works
    to be included in (or kept from being so) in Debian: while ftpmasters are the team deciding NEW acceptance, they could base their decision on a project's GR -- and a GR on this topic would also send a clear signal, even to works not yet submitted to Debian, on where our collective position is. This can steer people to license their datasets in ways better aligned with our understanding of what should be called Free Software (the DFSG) or, in any case, a document better accepted than the OSAID. (of course, I'm assuming the project would vote against
    accepting the OSAID as valid for us -- I can be, naturally, surprised). Debian can be a referent to other Free Software projects on a position to take before our ecosystem is forever changed.

    I'll do my best to follow this thread, as it is IMO fundamental to a very large application area we have to cater for.

    - Gunnar.

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  • From Mo Zhou@21:1/5 to Gerardo Ballabio on Tue Nov 5 03:20:01 2024
    I'm planning to draft a GR for this, but that is only going to happen
    after I get through some busy weeks.

    On 11/4/24 02:22, Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
    The OSAID 1.0 has now been released (with no modifications from the RC2).
    Are we still going to take any actions or will we let this go?

    Gerardo


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