The artificial intelligence (AI) landscape is evolving at an increasingly rapid pace. At the OpenInfra Foundation, we build open source software that lets you provide infrastructure to run modern workloads, like AI. Massive strides have already been made within OpenInfra communities like OpenStack to power AI workloads, including the UK’s fastest supercomputer, Dawn.

Within these open source communities, the impact of AI’s increased adoption on open source contributions is widely debated, pitting the efficiency of AI against challenges like copyright law and quality of contributions. In November 2023, the OpenInfra Foundation Board of Directors began drafting a policy for AI generated content to create official guidelines for the development of open source software in the global OpenInfra community. The board working group worked with legal counsel to develop a policy that applies to all contributions of content committed into source revision control systems by projects housed under the OpenInfra Foundation. This effort aimed to encourage exploration and adoption of new technologies while exercising reasonable caution around potential risks. As the AI landscape matures, this policy will continue to evolve to ensure alignment across the OpenInfra community. 

"We [the board] wanted to foster the environment we wish to see moving forward and drafted such a policy,” said Julia Kreger, chair of the OpenInfra Board of Directors. “The policy represents guidance for contributors to help them understand what is expected while enabling them to move forward."

On June 4, the OpenInfra Policy for AI Generated Content was unanimously approved.  

I want to extend my appreciation to the OpenInfra board of directors who openly conducted research and collected feedback to develop this framework. In particular, I’d like to thank OpenInfra board chair, Julia Kreger, whose leadership was instrumental in this progress. I look forward to watching the OpenInfra community continue to innovate and scale open source infrastructure software with our newest contributor, AI. 

AI is just the latest example of how the global OpenInfra community adapts to the evolving nature of the technology industry. While the AI landscape continues to mature, I am excited to continue collaborating with the open source community to ensure we evolve our method of contribution while building open source software that will power the future of infrastructure.