feven

gonna slop my way through life now

please feel free to share the report and if you’re curious about anything in particular, feel free to reach out

Full report: bit.ly/openwebrepor...

𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

The foundations of the digital future will be about:

→ capacity
→ coordination
→ control
→ capital

What’s inside: ↴

→ Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)
→ Africa’s connectivity & subsea cables
→ OSS funding collapse (EU & US)
→ Compute inequality + participation gaps
→ Open source AI: risks & governance frameworks
→ Digital identity + zero-knowledge privacy

This report connects global discussions at the UN Open Source Conference to the deeper stakes of open infrastructure in a rapidly digitizing world.

Open source is public infrastructure.

But it’s underfunded, unevenly distributed, and structurally invisible…even as it powers everything from identity systems to e-commerce services.

UN Open Source Conference 2025 Insights


I wrote a report reflecting on how open source shapes digital sovereignty, public infrastructure, and global equity. Here’s a quick preview ↴

The AI lobby plants its flag in Washington A new wave of AI companies is lobbying up in Washington, and already getting much of what it wants.

www.politico.com/news/2025/06...

So who’s showing up for decentralized and open source AI?

Where are the consortium's / companies stepping up to advocate for openness, transparency, and public interest?

OpenAI, Anthropic, and Scale AI are already lobbying in Washington to shape policies that favor their closed source AI models. OpenAI alone spent nearly $2 million on government lobbying in the past year....

Can there be a middle path forward that enables first time contributors using AI while maintaining project integrity and security?

What are some frameworks that could work for both?

Would love to hear from everyone!

This could help:

→ First time contributors understand what's expected when using AI tools
→ Give long term maintainers a clear review process and framework
→ Projects maintain security while increasing accessibility

But since AI is not going anywhere anytime soon...

OSS projects should learn to deal with this now rather than later

I suggested: what if we had standardized contribution guidelines for AI assisted code?

The current stance is:

short term and long term security > minor contributions by beginner / non technical contributors using AI tools

so their current stop gap has been:

explicit policies in their code of conduct or contribution guidelines that AI generated PRs are given low to zero acceptance rates

The maintainers I talked to were pretty clear about this:

"AI will change everything, but we're not close to ready."

They lack the processes and mechanisms to verify that AI generated code isn't:
→ Unknowingly malicious
→ Full of security vulnerabilities
→ A ticking time bomb

On the surface, the promise of AI for open source is exciting:

AI may lower the barrier for contributions from beginners and non-technical folks who were previously blocked by high technical barriers.

But there’s a catch...

At the UN Open Source Conference, I joined a discussion on how to help beginners start contributing to open source.

Midway through, I asked "Will AI lower barriers to OSS contributions, and how are projects handling these influxes?"

The responses were unexpectedly blunt:

Grateful to have met so many people working to extend the reach, impact, and sustainability of open source.

I’ll be sharing a longer write-up soon + if you’re curious about anything in particular, feel free to reach out 𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧𖡼.𖤣𖥧

#UNOpenSourceWeek

I left the week asking: How can we use open source to build, maintain, and protect sovereignty and internet freedom for individuals, communities, and for the systems that connect us?

The two main conference days were:
╰┈➤ OSPOs for Good
╰┈➤ Digital Public Infrastructure Day

These explored how open source can strengthen governments, institutions, and services at a systems level.

With offsite sessions at LinkedIn, PwC, and IBM capping off the week.

Day 1 featured three hackathons hosted by the UN:
→ UNICEF Hackathon
→ Edit-A-Thon
→ Maintain-A-Thon

Each focused on real-world collaboration and public-interest tech. Loved being a part of all the conversations and building during this day.

Topics included:
→ Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)
→ AI and digital governance
→ The future of work
→ Capacity building across borders
→ Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs)
→ Long-term sustainability of OSS

The week brought together diplomats, technologists, founders, enterprise teams, and open source leaders to discuss critical topics shaping our digital future and to ask:

How do we scale and sustain open digital ecosystems that serve the public?

Last week, I attended the United Nations Open Source Week at the UN Headquarters in NYC

a global gathering at the intersection of diplomacy, technology, and public good ↴

Don’t be afraid to call your senators office. Ask them where they stand, why they do or don’t support the bill, share your thoughts and make your priorities heard.

Use this NotebookLM link to ask it specific questions, summarize it, interpret what it might mean for you and your community and to stay informed:

notebooklm.google.com/notebook/11a...

🚨 The Senate is currently voting on the “Big Beautiful Bill” right now, if you’re curious how this bill will impact:
→ clean energy projects
→ crypto
→ healthcare access
→ tax policy
→ border security
→ federal public land use

one must imagine Sisyphus happy

i’m back on twitter hmu: twitter.com/notfeven