Open Source A.I.
AI is “coming, ready or not!”, but what’s the best way to receive it? While Silicon Valley is awash with enthusiastically valued companies in a race to see who can boil the ocean first, could Open Source A.I. be a better way to do this? There have been plenty of eyebrow-raising failures:
- Wholesale creative content theft
- Advice like “You should eat at least one small rock per day”
- Drawing pictures of people with too many fingers and eyes
- Legal bots writing fan-fic instead of citing cases
- Having an AI friend/therapist lead you into some dark places
On the bright side, the growing number and variety of local AI acceleration hardware devices along with things like the Open Source Initiative’s Open Source AI spec. Maybe taking charge of our own AI development and use could lead to a brighter tomorrow?
What are your hopes and fears about all things “AI”? What have been your experiences and how do you plan to deal with its future?
Come and share with us at Everything Open Canberra 2026.
Talk submissions still open until 21 September 2025. More details in the proposals portal.