The Importance of Open Source in Artificial Intelligence
Good morning, everyone. Today, I want to focus on open source and its significance, particularly within the field of artificial intelligence. I won't delve into specific technologies, but rather explore why open source is crucial for the advancement of AI.
The Linux Foundation's Role
How many of you are familiar with the Linux Foundation or use Linux? As many of you know, the Linux Foundation is more than just Linux. It serves as a central hub for some of the most critical software technologies globally. These technologies include OpenStack and Kubernetes, which power major public cloud service providers like Alibaba Cloud, Tencent, Huawei, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon. Furthermore, the Linux Foundation is home to AI technologies like PyTorch and VLM, as well as numerous technologies across various industries like automotive, telecommunications, and film. The Linux Foundation brings together global industries to collaborate and create markets using open-source software, as we have done time and again. Today, Linux runs the vast majority of the world's computing systems.
Open Source AI: A Paradigm Shift
This year marked a turning point for open-source AI. The release of Deepseek, an open-source model by a small company in China, sent shockwaves throughout the industry. On the day of Deepseek's release, Nvidia's stock price dropped by 17%, revealing that there are really no competitive moats when building large language models. While Nvidia has since recovered, the event underscored the importance of open source for AI's future.
Several key figures have recognized this shift. Sam Altman of OpenAI acknowledged that OpenAI might be on the wrong side of history regarding open source and promised to deliver an open-source large language model. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is dedicated to an open-source AI future. Kyu Lee has stated that open-source is the clear winner in AI in 2025. Deepseek demonstrated that there are no moats. Open-source LLMs are almost on the same level as closed AI frontier models.
The Rise of Open Source in China
Deepseek's emergence raises the question of how such a small organization could release a high-performance open-source model. China has been committed to open source for a considerable time.
-
In the early 1990s, the government and industry sought open-source alternatives to technologies like Microsoft Windows.
-
From the 2000s to 2020, large hyperscale companies like Baidu, Alibaba, Tencent, and Huawei invested in open source, with their engineers becoming leading contributors to global initiatives.
-
From 2020 to the present, China has invested heavily in open source through contributions, new software releases, and government policies that support and encourage open-source sharing and investment.
Global Adoption of Open Source
China isn't alone in its embrace of open source. In the United States, the technology industry has long relied on open-source software.
-
In the 1990s, companies like IBM used open source to compete and foster innovation.
-
From the 1990s to 2010s, billions of dollars were invested in open-source companies.
-
During the cloud boom of the 2010s and 2020s, cloud service providers built their infrastructure using open-source software.
There's a cautionary tale for those who resist open source. Many companies that fought against it, trying to hoard and control technology, ultimately failed. Even Microsoft, initially opposed to open source, pivoted to embrace it and became a leading contributor to critical open-source software.
The Power of Open Source: Economic Value and Governance
Why is open source so powerful? The power of open source lies in its value financially. A Harvard Business School study estimated the economic value of open-source code at $9 trillion if the world had to purchase it. Modern application development relies heavily on open-source frameworks, libraries, and components, which can save up to 70% of development costs.
However, open-source software alone isn't enough to unlock that $9 trillion value. Critical projects require good governance. Neutral ownership and collective decision-making are crucial for competitors to collaborate effectively on the same software. This kind of governance is emerging in China. Good software along with good decisionmaking and collective ownership is vital to the success of open source.
Open-Source AI Economics: Driving Innovation and Application Development
Open-source AI drives innovation faster. The release of Deepseek R1 led to the creation of numerous derivative versions on Hugging Face, showcasing how open source enables rapid advancement. A McKinsey study revealed that 76% of organizations expect to deploy open-source AI in their enterprises.
The true value lies in the applications built using AI: drug discovery, autonomous vehicles, and robotics. By sharing infrastructure components, the cost of developing these applications is reduced, leading to faster innovation and more breakthroughs. The Linux Foundation encourages the creation of as much open-source infrastructure as possible to accelerate application development. Those that are fearless about open sourcing their technology tend to innovate at the highest level.
Agentic AI: The Next Frontier
In the United States, we're seeing the rise of agentic AI. Open source drives down costs and drives up innovation at the infrastructure layer and the application level. The modern agentic AI stack includes protocols like MCP, open registries for discovering and validating AI agents, and a growing ecosystem of MCP servers and clients.
Agentic AI connects the intelligence of a frontier model to practical applications for enterprises and services. This creates rich applications and useful AI agents. As with other open-source endeavors, we can expect costs to decrease, security and reliability to increase, and innovation to accelerate.
Major labs are embracing technologies like MCP, and new open-source initiatives like A2A from Google and Agency from Cisco are emerging.
Conclusion: Embracing Global Collaboration
Open source accelerates innovation and increases economic opportunity by making technology accessible to more people. The real power of open source lies in global collaboration, which happens in the open for everyone to participate.
33 years ago, Linus Torvalds, residing in Helsinki, Finland, open-sourced the Linux kernel and he became the most successful software developer in the world over 30 years. Today, Linus Torvalds continues to maintain Linux, the world's most widely used software. All he needed was a computer and an internet connection.
Every day at the Linux Foundation, millions of developers collaborate on critical projects. The next Linus Torvalds could be anywhere, including in this room. All that a brilliant engineer needs is access to the open-source technology, the ability to modify it, and the opportunity to lead.
Let's ensure that open source remains open, a cross-border global collaboration that's free for anyone to participate in. You never know where the next Linux or the next Linus Torvalds will come from. Thank you.
{# 
{# 
{# 
{# 
{#