As the second day of Open Source Summit convened, conversations around the future of the open-source ecosystem took center stage. Discussions included the need to adapt to emerging technologies, such as artificial intelligence, and integrate them into open-source projects.

“Our narrative yesterday was the question: Is this tornado called AI going to decimate and topple the foundation, the infrastructure and the institution of generations of open source?” said industry analyst John Furrier (pictured, left). “Our answer was, it will not, but it will shake, it will definitely rattle the cage.”

The wave of AI and DevOps is real and changing the landscape rapidly. The Linux Foundation, for instance, is actively figuring out how to navigate this new terrain.

“The Linux Foundation, they’re beavering away,” Furrier added. “They’re getting in there and figuring it out.”

Furrier and his co-analyst Rob Strechay (right) discussed the significant and disruptive influence of AI and how to engage the next generation of contributors in the open-source community, including developers and software architects, at this week’s Open Source Summit NA, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio.

Open source in the AI era

Some experts believe AI is not yet ready for production, yet the technology’s impact is undeniable. The shift, however, is not without its challenges. There’s certainly a juxtaposition within the open-source community in terms of how to address AI and its potential implications, as well as how solutions will be developed and rolled out.

“Especially in the AI world, where we’re looking at it going, ‘OK, is this going to be controlled by the OpenAIs and the Googles and the Metas and the Amazons of the world?” Strechay said. “Or is there going to be an open version of this that can be leveraged by everybody? Or is it just going to be usable via API?”

A significant shift has occurred within the open-source community. Companies are now both contributors and end users, a shift that’s brought new dynamics to the table.

“You have corporations now playing two sides of the coin,” Furrier said. “You’ve got, ‘I’m going to fund projects,’ like Google — they’re like the sugar daddy of a lot of projects — as well as AWS. Then you’ve got Fidelity; they’re donating code. So, the collision of those two things is a power dynamic that’s here to stay.”

What does the future of open source look like? Along with a lot of optimism about where the industry is headed, there is some cause for concern. In the future, AI, data, media and software could all be code, and this revolution in infrastructure could lead to what Furrier described as “code pollution” on one end and “hallucinations” on the other.

“The data underlying everything is huge. The large language models, you’ve got graphs, you’ve got Midjourney, you’ve got audio, you’ve got deepfakes. We’re going to see a lot of misinformation,” Furrier said.

Despite the challenges and uncertainties, Furrier and Strechay are optimistic about the future of open source. Incorporating and adapting emerging technologies like AI will revolutionize the way open-source projects are developed and maintained.

“Open source has won,” Furrier said. “It is the industry. Open-source software is the software industry.”

Here’s the complete video analyis, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Open Source Summit NA:

Photo: SiliconANGLE