I've heard OpenAI isn't actually open source. Is it?

conradev · on March 7, 2017

gavanwoolery · on March 7, 2017

They do have open source projects, but their mission is not to necessarily be an open source company. They want to equalize the footing in AI for everyone, and this might require some degree of secrecy so that commercial AI companies do not get an edge. At least, that is my perception, feel free to correct me.

angersock · on March 7, 2017

> They want to equalize the footing in AI for everyone

Equal opportunity to pay, or actually democratizing it so that anybody who wants to use it can reap the benefits?

I'm willing to bet it's not the latter, given the reliance of AI on large training corpuses and machine time.

gavanwoolery · on March 7, 2017

I think its more about making the same research available to everyone, or other things that are relatively free to distribute (like code, even though, as hinted, it does not mean that everything will be open-sourced as its written).

Although, you do make a good point. If only the most powerful companies can afford meaningful machine time, how democratized can AI be?

angersock · on March 7, 2017

> If only the most powerful companies can afford meaningful machine time, how democratized can AI be?

That's the big trick that nobody seems to give a shit about, as they scramble around to make a buck.

Having the research or even the code doesn't really give you an advantage. We're just trading one set of overlords for another.

dilemma · on March 8, 2017

Okay, so OpenAI is not open source but a private company.