Fireside Chat | Who is building open source AI?
Channel: The Turing Way
Date: 2023-09-21

On Thursday 21 September, 14:00-15:30 London time (UTC+1), the September Fireside Chat took place to understand the question "Who is building open source AI?”. This Fireside Chat was organised as a part of the Open Source Initiative's Call for Defining Open Source AI.

Facilitated by Jennifer Ding and Arielle Bennett of The Turing Way and the Alan Turing Institute, this panel will feature highlights from Abinaya Mahendiran (Nunnari Labs) Marzieh Fadaee (Cohere for AI), David Gray Widder (Cornell Tech), and Mophat Okinyi (African Content Moderators Union).

As part of conversations about defining open source AI as hosted by the Open Source Initiative (OSI), The Turing Way is hosting a panel discussion centering key communities who are part of building AI today, whose contributions are often overlooked. Through a conversation with panellists from content moderation, data annotation, and data governance backgrounds, we aim to highlight different kinds of contributors whose work is critical to the Open Source AI ecosystem, but whose contributions are often left out of governance decisions or from benefitting from the AI value chain. We will focus on these different forms of work and how each are recognised and rewarded within the open source ecosystem, with an eye to what is happening now in the AI space. In the spirit of an AI openness that promotes expanding diverse participation, democratising governance, and inviting more people to shape and benefit from the future of AI, we will frame a conversation that highlights current best practices as well as legal, social, and cultural barriers. We hope this multi-domain, multi-disciplinary discussion can emphasise the importance of centering the communities who are integral to AI production in conversations, considerations, and definitions of “Open Source AI.”

Note: this conversation will be recorded and shared in the context of the OSI Open call. A follow-up discussion and FAQ will occur in October 2023 with panelists and facilitators.

During this event, we will also facilitate open discussions with attendees to learn about their perspectives on the topic via a shared document (links shared upon registration).

This event is being hosted by The Turing Way - a community-led handbook on data science and research, hosted at the Alan Turing Institute.

For more information about the speakers, check out this eventbrite page: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/who-is-building-open-source-ai-tickets-709277416847

Chapters
0:00 - Introduction to Fireside Chat event & The Turing Way
4:08 - Introduction of Speakers & Self Introduction
16:26 - Introduction question - Who do you think is involved in building AI that the public might not know about?
24:00 - Question 1 - What practices of acknowledgement and supporting the work of this wider ecosystem of contributors to open source AI has the panel observed?
36:15 - Question 2: Thinking specifically specifically about the open aspect of open AI, what do we think about the term "openness" and the concepts of bringing openness to AI?
44:51 - Question 3: For people like ourselves who are interested in defining open source AI, what are you hoping that they will take away from the conversation we are having here?