What you need to know
- In a new report, Mozilla details the importance of openness in AI models and systems.
- The report details that open-source foundational models are unpopular among most users because of the security and privacy risks.
- Mozilla says people advocating for openness in the AI landscape often mention the vast benefits but don't have a clear path for exploring these opportunities.
- The report features an in-depth analysis highlighting ways to unlock some of these benefits and missed opportunities based on desired model and system attributes.
Mozilla has published a new report highlighting the importance of openness in AI models and systems (via IT'S FOSS NEWS). The paper highlights the benefits of open-source approaches for AI, particularly with foundational models. However, the company details that it isn't an easy feat to open-source foundational models, making it extremely hard to leverage these benefits. As such, lack of clarity has heavily contributed to developers being unable to advance openness and unlock its benefits.
According to Mozilla:
"The paper surveys existing approaches to defining openness in AI models and systems, and then proposes a descriptive framework to understand how each component of the foundation model stack contributes to openness."
A huge deterrent to the progression of AI lies in its openness, depending on how you view it. Lawmakers have blatantly questioned the safety and privacy of AI models with open access. Interestingly, Mozilla says some of these claims are often "without concrete or rigorous evidence."
On the flip side, people advocating for openness in AI, cite a handful of benefits but don't have a clear path mapped out for the exploration of these opportunities. Some of the key benefits include reduced cost implication, expedited bug and security fixes, promotion of accountability of systems via audits and transparency, and more.
The paper provides an in-depth analysis, highlighting ways to unlock some of these benefits and missed opportunities based on desired model and system attributes. Mozilla's report isn't the gospel on how AI operations should be run, but it does paint a clear picture of how these advances can be made more beneficial without compromising on security.
