紐時賞析／人工智慧模型是否該「開放原始碼」？ 科技界看法兩極

關於開源人工智慧實際意義，目前尚未有一致定義。有些人指控人工智慧公司「洗白式開放」—不夠誠實地使用「開放原始碼」，以讓他們形象看起來好一點。（紐約時報）

Some AI Companies Face a New Accusation: 'Openwashing'

有些AI公司面臨新指控 遭控「洗白式開放」

There's a big debate in the tech world over whether artificial intelligence models should be "open source". Elon Musk, who helped found OpenAI in 2015, sued the startup and its CEO, Sam Altman, on claims that the company had diverged from its mission of openness. The Biden administration is investigating the risks and benefits of open source models.

關於人工智慧模型是否應該「開放原始碼」，科技界存在着一場大規模爭論。2015年協助創立OpenAI的馬斯克，對這間新創公司和其執行長奧特曼提起訴訟，聲稱該公司偏離其開放的使命。拜登政府正調查開源模型帶來的風險和益處。

Proponents of open source AI models say they're more equitable and safer for society, while detractors say they are more likely to be abused for malicious intent. One big hiccup in the debate? There's no agreed-upon definition of what open source AI actually means. And some are accusing AI companies of  "openwashing" — using the "open source" term disingenuously to make themselves look good. (Accusations of openwashing have previously been aimed at coding projects that used the open source label too loosely.)

開源人工智慧模型提倡者表示，它們對社會而言更公平且更安全，而批評者表示，它們更可能被惡意濫用。但這場辯論會不會有個大問題？關於開源人工智慧的實際意義，目前尚未有一致定義。而且有些人指控人工智慧公司「漂開」（洗白式開放），不誠實地使用「開放原始碼」一詞，讓他們的形象看起來好一點。（關於漂開的指控，先前主要針對過於寬鬆地使用開放原始碼標籤的程式編碼專案）

In a blog post on Open Future, a European think tank supporting open sourcing, Alek Tarkowski wrote, "As the rules get written, one challenge is building sufficient guardrails against corporations’ attempts at 'openwashing'." Last month the Linux Foundation, a nonprofit that supports open-source software projects, cautioned that "this 'openwashing' trend threatens to undermine the very premise of openness — the free sharing of knowledge to enable inspection, replication and collective advancement."

在支持開放原始碼的歐洲智庫「開啓未來」部落格貼文中，塔科沃斯基寫道：「隨着規範被制定，一個挑戰是建立充足的護欄防止企業嘗試『洗白式開放』。」支持開源軟體專案的非營利組織Linux基金會上月提醒，「這種『洗白式開放』趨勢可能破壞開放的前提，即自由分享知識以實現檢視、複製和集體進步」。

Organizations that apply the label to their models may be taking very different approaches to openness. For example, OpenAI, the startup that launched the ChatGPT chatbot in 2022, discloses little about its models (despite the company’s name). Meta labels its LLaMA 2 and LLaMA 3 models as open source but puts restrictions on their use. The most open models, run mainly by nonprofits, disclose the source code and underlying training data, and use an open source license that allows for wide reuse. But even with these models, there are obstacles to others being able to replicate them.

將這個標籤應用在其模型的組織，可能會採取截然不同的方式開放。例如，在2022年發表了聊天機器人ChatGPT的OpenAI，幾乎沒有公開其模型（儘管其公司名稱）。Meta將其LLaMA 2和LLaMA 3標記爲開放原始碼，但限制其使用。最開放的模型主要由非營利組織運行，會公佈原始碼和作爲基礎的訓練數據，並使用允許廣泛重複使用的開放原始碼授權。但即使有這些模型，其他人複製它們時還是有障礙。

The main reason is that while open source software allows anyone to replicate or modify it, building an AI model requires much more than code. Only a handful of companies can fund the computing power and data curation required. That's why some experts say labeling any AI as "open source" is at best misleading and at worst a marketing tool.

主因是儘管開源軟體允許任何複製和修改，但建立人工智慧模型需要的不僅是程式碼。只有一些公司能爲所需的算力和資料應用提供資金。這就是爲何有些專家說，將任何人工智慧貼上「開放原始碼」標籤，往好的狀況看是種誤導，往壞的狀況看是種行銷工具。

Efforts to create a clearer definition for open source AI are underway.

創建開源人工智慧更清楚定義的努力正在進行。

文／Sarah Kessler　譯／羅方妤