Open Future

Our latest CommonsDB post explores registries and the challenge of sourcing trustworthy, legally sound data for AI training.

Exploring CommonsDB’s role in AI training data Participants at a recent CommonsDB workshop explored whether the registry can support lawful, traceable data for AI training

🔍 Can registries make AI training data more lawful? Our CommonsDB workshop explored this with experts from pleias, @creativecommons.bsky.social , @commoncrawl.bsky.social and @kb.nl. We're building bridges between digital assets, rights info, and AI. www.commonsdb.org/blog/explori...

The Future of Democracy: Speech, Thought, Sovereignty, and Power in the Age of Platforms and AI — Open Markets Institute Join The Open Markets Institute and ARTICLE 19 on October 15th & 16th for a convening of high-level leading thinkers, lawmakers, technologists, and advocates to discuss the direct and growi...

🗳️ Join us next week for "The Future of Democracy" conference, organized by @openmarkets.bsky.social and @article19.bsky.social . Find us in the panel on the "Role of digital infrastructure in strengthening EU democracy."

In-person or online attendance: www.openmarketsinstitute.org/publications...

Beyond AI and copyright – Open Future This White Paper calls for a levy on commercial AI systems to fund public infrastructures and ensure a sustainable Digital Knowledge Commons in the generative AI era.

Building on our "Beyond AI and copyright" white paper, we will explore value redistribution and democratic oversight. Read more: openfuture.eu/publication/...

To follow, @renateschroeder.bsky.social (from @efjeurope.bsky.social ), Ioan Kaes (from @aepoartis.bsky.social), and Stefan Kaufmann (from @wikimediade.bsky.social ) will move beyond polarized AI debates to practical solutions in a panel discussion moderated by @paulk.bsky.social.

The event will start with a keynote featuring MEP @woelken.eu , followed by Prof. Alexandra Bensamoun, who will present insights from her recent report on remuneration for cultural content used in AI systems.

Join us Oct 14 at TownHall Europe (Brussels) as we explore AI's impact on our information ecosystem. Together with @fesonline.bsky.social we will tackle fair value distribution and power concentration in AI with experts and policymakers. Register now: futureofwork.fes.de/registration...

Open Future Policy Brief #9 – From Public Investment to Public Value, cover with Open Future image background.

Our new policy brief outlines five ways to boost EU digital sovereignty through the 2028-2034 MFF: funding reform, sovereign cloud, strategic public procurement, digital public space & commons framework.

Time to put money where our mouth is.
openfuture.eu/publication/...

Webinar: How data centre expansion risks derailing climate goals – Open Future ECOS hosted a webinar to present our joint report:

🔍 Our webinar with @ecos.ngo examined how data center expansion threatens climate goals. Watch the recording featuring a discussion panel with experts from the @ec.europa.eu ropa.eu, @theshiftproject.bsky.social, and GenAI Impact. Download the full report.

openfuture.eu/event/webina...

📬 Our newsletter is back! Download our joint report with @ecos.ngo on how AI and data centers threaten climate goals through increased electricity demand, water usage, and e-waste—and discover our recommendations for sustainable development.

Read more: mailchi.mp/openfuture/p...

🔍 Don’t miss @opensource.org’s virtual event on Data Governance from 1 to 3 October. Tomorrow at 18:15 CEST, @alek.bsky.social explores data pathways to public AI, focusing on commons-based approaches to ensure equitable access.

🎟️ Free registration: datagovernance.sessionize.com/session/977562

Sustaining Original Content in the Age of Generative AI, 14 October 2025

🔍 Join us Oct 14 in Brussels to discuss fair value distribution in the AI era. How to prevent AI from capturing creative value? With MEPs, experts & civil society voices, @paulk.bsky.social moderates a discussion we organize with @fesonline.bsky.social.
Register: futureofwork.fes.de/registration...

Join us tomorrow at #PrivacyCamp25!

Find our Director Zuzanna Warso discussing "From digital sovereignty to self-determination" with Alexandra Geese MEP and Elisa Lindinger, moderated by Amber Sinha. In-person in Brussels or watch online! privacycamp.eu

#GLAMWiki2025: Wikimedia as essential digital infrastructure and trusted tools for cultural institutions.

@culturedoug.bsky.social will showcase CommonsDB as part of our copyright infrastructure work—connecting cultural memory with digital commons.

Register by Sep 30: w.wiki/D5Xq

Our joint report with @ecos.ngo has been published: "How data centre expansion risks derailing climate goals." Explore it here: openfuture.eu/publication/...

Join us for the webinar presentation today at 16:00. Registration link below.

Data centres have big environmental impacts, and with #AI driving growth, they’re rising 🤖

👀 New report from ECOS with @openfuture.bsky.social shows how to make #DataCentres more sustainable: ecostandard.org/publications...

🎧 Learn more at our webinar (it’s today!): us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

We have the opportunity to align technological advancement with environmental responsibility. Read the report "From innovation to overshoot: How data centre expansion risks derailing climate goals" and find out how policymakers can make data centers more sustainable: openfuture.eu/publication/...

Our report reveals how unchecked digital expansion threatens to derail climate objectives. But there's a better path: Europe needs data center policies that prioritize sufficiency, circularity, and transparency - with society involved in decision-making.

The EU Commission President recently promised investments in AI "gigafactories" for "future independence". At what environmental cost? Without strategic direction, we risk pouring billions into infrastructure that fails to deliver digital sovereignty and undermines climate goals.

The uncomfortable truth: Data centers consume massive energy, produce emissions 662% higher than disclosed, drain critical resources, and generate mountains of e-waste.

🧵Data centers: the hidden backbone of our digital economy. As AI drives unprecedented growth, we're facing a sustainability crisis that threatens our climate goals. New report with @ecos.ngo reveals important challenges.

New policy paper for a general scientific research exception Today, COMMUNIA releases Policy Paper #23 for a general scientific research exception (also available as a PDF file), advocating for a comprehensive overhaul of the copyright framework for research us...

🔍 New @communia.bsky.social Policy Paper #23 advocates for copyright reform with a mandatory research exception. This would help build a borderless European Research Area by removing barriers to accessing and sharing resources across Member States. Read more: communia-association.org/2025/09/10/n...

Welcome! You are invited to join a webinar: How data centre expansion risks derailing climate goals — and how to fix it. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email about joining the webi... The increasing popularity of AI and other digital technologies is driving a boom in the need for data centres. AI is framed as a vehicle for progress, but its unchecked evolution also has a darker sid...

Discover how policymakers can make #DataCentres more sustainable in our new report, a collaboration with @ecos.ngo

📅 Join the presentation webinar: "How data centre expansion risks derailing climate goals" on Sept 16 at 16:00 CEST.

Register: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

#GlamWiki2025 Conference presentation, October 30 to November 1 in Lisbon.

📣 Join us at #GLAMWiki2025 in Lisbon (Oct 30-Nov 1)

Explore resilience in cultural heritage with workshops and expert sessions, including @culturedoug.bsky.social presenting the CommonsDB registry for Wikimedians and cultural institutions.

Register by Sep 30: w.wiki/D5Xq

Copyright Infrastructure – Open Future Contributing to a more modern copyright framework that benefits all of society, including creators and other rights holders.

🔍 Our copyright infrastructure work tackles the "discoverability problem" in today's outdated system. Through CommonsDB, we're creating a public registry that serves creators, rights holders, and society. Learn more: openfuture.eu/our-work/cop...

For further insights, read Paul's latest report "Beyond AI and copyright": openfuture.eu/wp-content/u...

Dual-Use / Dual Futures: Reclaiming the Stack for Europe’s Commons | Ars Electronica Festival 2025: Panic This session brings together artists, designers, policymakers, and technologists to explore how digital infrastructure becomes cultural infrastructure—how it can be narrated, visualized, and contested...

Join us at the Archipelago of Possible Futures forum at #arselectronica on Sep 4. Explore democratic tech futures and Public AI with @paulk.bsky.social in "Dual-Use / Dual Futures: Reclaiming the Stack for Europe's Commons." Turning panic into possibility.
ars.electronica.art/panic/en/vie...

An informational newsletter design featuring the Open Future branding with a white and yellow dynamic background.

Our newsletter is taking a short break this August. It will return in September with Digital Commons coverage. If you are a digital activist, policymaker, or researcher in the tech field, you will likely find our content valuable. Join over 1,200 subscribers and sign up here: bit.ly/OpenFutureNL

🇵🇱 AI Speaks Polish. How open models drive generative AI development in smaller markets: openfuture.eu/publication/...

From AI Factories to Public Value – Open Future The AI Continent Action Plan needs a stronger vision of purposeful AI deployment if it wants to achieve more than just boost commercial AI development.

🏭 From AI Factories to Public Value: openfuture.eu/blog/from-ai...