What is Open‑Source AI? A Software Engineering Researcher Explains

In this article for The Conversation, Jeffrey Young—Georgia Tech School of Computer Science principal research scientist and director of the Open Source Program Office—demystifies the critical differences between "open" and "closed" artificial intelligence models.

Tracing the history from the 1980s free software movement to modern large language models, Young unpacks how terms like "open source" and "open weight" apply to AI today. He offers a clear analysis on software licensing, commercial reuse, and AI governance. And he highlights how tech giants like Meta, DeepSeek, and Alibaba navigate model access, while emphasizing that true open-source AI requires transparency across source code, weights, and training datasets. 

To explore these vital insights and understand what open-source AI truly means for the future of technology, read the complete article: What is open-source AI? A software engineering researcher explains.

Photo by GT Computing: Open-source software expert and Georgia Tech Principal Research Scientist Jeffery Young shares his perspective as a panelist during a 2026 computing workshop.