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Comment by elric | Hacker News Reader

Some time ago I tried to argue for a FOSS license that would disallow code from being used by AI. I got a lot of negative feedback saying that this wouldn't be FOSS because it imposes restrictions etc. The same is true for the SSPL. But for long term FOSS viability, I think we may need to impose some restrictions to protect ourselves from big bad megacorps who effectively exploit FOSS developers.

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I am still not entirely convinced that "disallowing code from being used by AI" is going to hurt megacorps in the long run - or the individual.

I guess plenty of people have already made their own call on this matter but I'm still genuinely undecided. As much as the megacorps are rushing to rule the AI roost - it's possible it will turn out to be a universal solvent to some degree.

But I'm also pretty lukewarm about AGPL and SSPL. I feel there's a huge amount of fragmentation in open source land and I'm often unable to use code in situations where I feel the original creator would probably have been ok with it.

The phrasing "used by AI" was a bit simplistic. I agree that this is not a black/white situation. Maybe everyone will benefit eventually. But it would have been nice to have the option.

What does code being used by AI have to do with "big bad megacorps who effectively exploit FOSS developers?" I don't see any connection there, while I do see it for something like SSPL.

It's a semantic thing and I agree with the feedback - specifically with the "F" in FOSS. That sort of license would be Open Source but not completely Free (as in freedom, not beer).

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