An open-source artificial intelligence (AI) model is reportedly being prepared for public release by OpenAI, the firm behind the AI chatbot ChatGPT.
In a May 16 report in The Information citing a person with knowledge of the plan, OpenAI is undertaking the move as pressure mounts from competing open-sourced AI models, such as those leaked from Meta in February.
The timeline of when the model would be released was not reported.
If OpenAI release a truly open-source model it would send progress stratospheric
— Alex MacCaw (@maccaw) May 15, 2023
It was said OpenAI’s open-source model would likely not be competitive with its flagship ChatGPT product as the firm’s value comes from being able to sell access to its more sophisticated models.
OpenAI has faced stiff competition from open-source AI models such as Meta’s LLaMa — which was originally limited to researchers but was leaked in full by a user from the imageboard site 4chan in late February.
Other open-source models include those from Stability AI, which opened its large-language models in April, along with Databricks’ Dolly 2.0 AI that it open-sourced days prior to Stability AI.
Open-source models mean the complete code is open to everyone. Anyone has the right to modify the models for any reason or fit them to specific purposes. Some firms choose to open-source their software as they believe it could benefit from contributions by outside developers.
Those building such models are getting significant backing funds too.
Related: MakerDAO publishes 5-phase roadmap featuring funding for open-source AI projects
On May 15, AI firm Together said it raised $20 million in a seed round backed by crypto figures including Oasis Labs co-founder Dawn Song, OpenSea co-founder Alex Atallah and Uniswap COO Mary-Catherine Lader — its stated mission is to provide open-source generative AI models.
Earlier in May, a leaked document from Google senior software engineer Luke Sernau pointed to open-source AI models as a significant threat to the company’s own AI efforts.
“The uncomfortable truth is, we aren’t positioned to win this arms race and neither is OpenAI,” Sernau wrote.
He added while Google was distracted by its competition with OpenAI, open-source AI models quietly, quickly and significantly advanced. “They are lapping us,” he wrote. “Open-source models are faster, more customizable, more private, and pound-for-pound more capable.”
Cointelegraph contacted OpenAI for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
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Update (May 16, 2:50 am UTC): This article has been updated to include more information from the leaked Google document and competing open-source AI models.
