A total of 30 progressive MEPs warn the Commission against watering down the definition of “open source” AI to include models with restrictive licensing in its AI Act implementation.
Failing to enact a strict open source definition “would risk undermining the implementation of the AI Act, putting citizens’ rights at risk, and harming European Competitiveness,” the lawmakers write in a letter sent on Thursday.
In particular, the MEPs, led by Birgit Sippel from the S&D and Markéta Gregorová from the Greens, single out Facebook owner Meta for its not-so-open “open source AI.”
“Meta prohibits the use of its Llama models for the purpose of training other AI systems, and forces anyone who develops a highly successful AI system based on Llama to negotiate a special licence with them,” reads the letter.
Meta also doesn’t share the code for how it trains its models, but very publicly champions its “open” approach.
“Their AI is only free and open until a business wants to compete with them,” the MEPs write. “We urge the Commission and the AI office to clarify that such systems cannot be considered Open Source for the purposes of the AI Act.”
Instead, they defer to the Open Source Initiative, which has explicitly ruled out Meta’s models in its definition of open source AI.
The MEPs call on the Commission to “actively monitor” international efforts to define open source, and “consider developing guidance on what should be considered as Open Source AI for the purposes of the AI act.”
(jp)
