Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More. As tech giants declare their AI releases open — and even put the word in their names — the once insider term “open source” has burst into the modern zeitgeist. During this precarious time in which one company’s misstep could set back the public’s comfort with AI by a decade or more, the concepts of openness and transparency are being wielded haphazardly, and sometimes dishonestly, to breed trust. At the same time, with the new White House administration taking a more hands-off approach to tech regulation, the battle lines have been drawn — pitting innovation against regulation and predicting dire consequences if the “wrong” side prevails. There is, however, a third way that has been tested and proven through other waves of technological change. Grounded in the principles of openness and transparency, true open source collaboration unlocks faster rates of innovation even as it empowers the industry to develop technology that is unbiased, ethical and beneficial to society. Understanding the power of true open source collaborationPut simply, open-source software features freely available source code that can be viewed, modified, dissected, adopted and shared for commercial and noncommercial purposes — and historically, it has been monumental in breeding innovation. Open-source offerings Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP, for example, unleashed the internet as we know it. Now, by democratizing access to AI models, data, parameters and open-source AI tools, the community can once again unleash faster innovation instead of continually recreating the wheel — which is why a recent IBM study of 2,400 IT decision-makers revealed a growing interest in using open-source AI tools to drive ROI

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More. Come the new year, the incoming Trump administration is expected to make many changes to existing policies, and AI regulation will not be exempt. This will likely include repealing an AI executive order by current President Joe Biden.The Biden order established government oversight offices and encouraged model developers to implement safety standards. While the Biden AI executive order rules focus on model developers, its repeal could present some challenges for enterprises to overcome. Some companies, like Trump-ally Elon Musk’s xAI, could benefit from a repeal of the order, while others are expected to face some issues. This could include having to deal with a patchwork of regulations, less open sharing of data sources, less government-funded research and more emphasis on voluntary responsible AI programs. Patchwork of local rulesBefore the EO’s signing, policymakers held several listening tours and hearings with industry leaders to determine how best to regulate technology appropriately

Voxel51, the leading solution for building visual AI applications, today announced the milestone release of version 1.0 of open source FiftyOne.