Open Future

FOSDEM 2026 homepage

FOSDEM 2026: Our Senior Policy Analyst @aditya.myatproto.social speaks on governing Europe's digital commons. Today at 9:35 CET, Room UA2.118. Watch live: fosdem.org/2026/schedul...

What is a “European Alternative” to X? – Open Future European alternatives to Big Tech platforms must go beyond sovereignty—they need decentralized models, robust safety, and public funding.

European social media alternatives need more than EU hosting. They require decentralized architecture, robust safety mechanisms, public funding, and business models beyond surveillance. Read more in @aditya.myatproto.social latest: openfuture.eu/blog/what-is...

FOSDEM 2026 homepage

Join us at FOSDEM 2026 to discuss Europe's digital sovereignty & the DC-EDIC's role in supporting open source public infrastructure. 2 Feb, 9:35 CET | Room UA2.118 | Details and live streaming: fosdem.org/2026/schedul...

Open Future Newsletter, issue #52

📬 Our latest newsletter: Why Europe must build a Public AI ecosystem beyond the "AI race," two futures for the internet (scarcity vs openness), and MEPs calling for European social media alternatives after the Grok scandal. Read more: mailchi.mp/openfuture/e...

Why Digital Public Infrastructures? – Open Future This paper examines promises and power dynamics behind digital public infrastructures in India, Brazil, and the EU—and the missing public role.

7 promises these systems claim: strategic autonomy, rights protection, innovation, cost savings, inclusion, better services & sustainability. But what's missing? The public's role in shaping them. openfuture.eu/publication/...

Why Digital Public Infrastructures? Report Cover with Open Future Image Background

New report by @bulletprooflama.bsky.social: How are India, Brazil & the EU reshaping digitalization? We examine IndiaStack, Brazil's DPI & EuroStack—unpacking the promises & power dynamics behind digital public infrastructure.

CommonsDB feasibility study - Part 2 Cover with Open Future image background

CommonsDB moves from design to deployment: 300K+ verified declarations, cryptographic trust, decentralized control.
Our feasibility study shows how we're building rights infrastructure for open culture and public domain works. 📥 www.commonsdb.org/blog/commons...

Divergent Mechanisms, Elusive Vocabularies. Open Future Policy Brief #10 Cover.

Interested in the European Commission's consultation on TDM rights protocols closing 23 January? Our new policy brief by @paulk.bsky.social examines how AI opt-outs evolved in 2025, proposes four principles for a shared vocabulary layer, and provides timely context.
openfuture.eu/publication/...

European Public AI Policy Brief – Open Future AI is becoming core European infrastructure. Yet non-European firms increasingly control it, concentrating investment, data, and talent. This creates risks for strategic autonomy, democratic…

Europe needs a family of public foundation models that are:
✅ Permanently open-source
✅ Democratically governed
✅ At or near frontier capabilities

For Public AI, both large models and smaller alternatives are viable and mutually reinforcing.
openfuture.eu/publication/...

CommonsDB We are building a public registry for Public Domain and openly licensed works

Don't forget to check the CommonsDB project, a public domain and openly licenced works registery www.commonsdb.org

And the ✨ European Public Domain Day ✨ has started! #EPDD26
We are very excited to launch the event with Bart Magnus from Meemoo.

Today, that's not only our conference, it is also the Wikipedia 2️⃣ 5️⃣ th Birthday 🎂 #Wikipedia25

📄 Check the program of the conference: www.pdday.org/events/europ...

European Public AI Policy Brief – Open Future AI is becoming core European infrastructure. Yet non-European firms increasingly control it, concentrating investment, data, and talent. This creates risks for strategic autonomy, democratic…

Breaking the "data winter" 🧊
European AI developers face a widening data gap. Our policy brief recommends establishing legal certainty for AI training on public data and building a European data commons.
We argue for purposeful deployment over "AI first."
openfuture.eu/publication/...

European Public AI - Policy Brief cover with branded Open Future Image Background in white and yellow

🚀 New Policy Brief: European Public AI by @alek.bsky.social & @felice.bsky.social

Europe's AI landscape is dominated by non-EU actors. Public AI offers an alternative—transparent governance, public accountability, and equitable access.

Read more: openfuture.eu/publication/...

Designing Technology for All #7: Reclaiming our Digital Future Why public values matter in shaping our digital infrastructure.

Join us in Amsterdam on 15 Jan to discuss Reclaiming our Digital Future.

How can we ensure tech serves the public good? Event with Kristina Irion, Lucie Chateau, Geert-Jan Bogaerts, Zuzanna Warso, and Lynn Zebeda at Studio PDZ (Pakhuis de Zwijger).

Reserve your spot: dezwijger.nl/programma/re...

Openness, Power, and the Paradox of Open Data in the Digital Omnibus – Open Future The Digital Omnibus goes beyond technical fixes—the EU is finally acknowledging the Paradox of Open. Differentiated charging makes sense. Weakening standard licensing risks fragmentation.

The proposed Digital Omnibus would allow public bodies to charge tech giants different fees for reusing public data. @paulk.bsky.social examines where this works—and where it adds unnecessary complexity—addressing the Paradox of Open and its implications for open data. openfuture.eu/blog/opennes...

Publiek Domeindag Op 10 januari 2025 vieren wij Publiek Domeindag bij de Koninklijke Bibliotheek in Den Haag.

Celebrating Public Domain Day 2026 on 9 January! 🎉
Works from creators who died in 1955 are entering the public domain. Check out the full program—@paulk.bsky.social presents CommonsDB and joins a panel on public domain restrictions.
Register for the livestream (in Dutch): publiekdomeindag.nl

LAION Round 2: Machine-Readable but Still Not Actionable – Open Future The OLG Hamburg ruled that machine-readable opt-outs must be machine-actionable, not just intelligible—but it left the definition of standards to ongoing fragmentation.

What does "machine-readable" mean for AI opt-outs? A German court ruled they must be machine-actionable—but without shared standards, we risk vendor lock-in and a pay-per-crawl web. Full analysis by @paulk.bsky.social
openfuture.eu/blog/laion-r...

💡 The Digital Omnibus and Open Data's Power Problem - Newsletter #51 Europe’s Digital Omnibus: Charging Big Tech for Public Data to Balance Openness and Sustainability.

📬 Our latest newsletter explores openness & power in Europe's digital future: Digital Omnibus fees for Big Tech, digital commons gaining policy momentum, and why Wikimedia needs a seat at the Agentic AI Foundation. Read more: mailchi.mp/openfuture/t...

Speakers include Alek Tarkowski, Felix Sieker, Grażyna Piesiewicz, Ivan Yamshchikov, Marta Villegas (to be confirmed), Max Gahntz, Nicolas Flores-Herr, Raegan MacDonald, and Sebastiano Toffaletti.

Save the Date: Public AI and Europe’s Digital Sovereignty – Open Future Join us at the MEP Salon in Brussels to discuss how Europe can build public AI systems that ensure competition, sovereignty, and innovation.

🇪🇺 13 Jan 2026 | Brussels MEP Salon: Public AI & Europe's Digital Sovereignty.
Join MEPs Kobosko and Lagodinsky with experts discussing European open source AI models that drive innovation and economic value.
Register here for a lunch event: openfuture.eu/event/public...

GenAI & Creative Practices: Past, Present, and Future - Responsible Digital Transformations This international conference, organised by Responsible Digital Transformations, will bring together scholars, researchers, and practitioners to critically examine the evolving relationship between Ge...

🎨🤖 17-18 December at the University of Amsterdam. Join us at the GenAI & Creative Practices conference, where @culturedoug.bsky.social will explore the challenges that open practice faces in the age of generative AI: ethics, governance, and the future of creative work. rdt.uva.nl/content/even...

The new Agentic AI Foundation (OpenAI, Google, Microsoft...) will set rules for how AI agents access data. Wikimedia's voice is missing. If this is about the public interest, the digital commons must have a seat at the table. More in the latest from @alek.bsky.social: openfuture.eu/blog/why-wik...

Communs de données et intelligence artificielle : regards croisés France–Québec YouTube video by Bibliothèque nationale de France BnF

Today, we're at BnF Paris for Data Commons & AI—exploring France-Quebec perspectives on cultural data for AI systems. Watch live and catch @paulk.bsky.social right now on "The Paradox of Open": www.youtube.com/live/ROigWIj...

🚨 AI companies are ignoring EU transparency rules on training data. OpenAI, Google, and Mistral all fall short on their commitments—and that behavior reveals an uncomfortable truth. The Commission must act. More on this piece from Zuzanna Warso and @paulk.bsky.social: openfuture.eu/blog/5-3-3-0...

Our @ngicommons.bsky.social conference report is out!

Back from the #DigitalCommonsPolicySummit2025 in Brussels, a turning point for Europe’s digital sovereignty.👇
commons.ngi.eu/2025/12/04/d...

@martel-innovate.com @openforumeurope.org @openfuture.bsky.social @cnrs.fr @linuxfoundation.org

This new impulse paper proposes a framework to help cultural heritage institutions balance their commitment to open access with the increasing AI-driven demand on their collections and infrastructure. ↘️

We are excited to share the newly published Impulse paper: Publishing cultural heritage data in the age of #AI, a joint publication by the Europeana Foundation and
@openfuture.bsky.social

You can read the paper here: bit.ly/3MBQAeY

🏛️How should cultural heritage institutions share data in the age of AI? Our new paper with @europeana.bsky.social explores when heritage data should be available for AI training. Part of the Alignment Assembly on Culture for AI. Read more: openfuture.eu/publication/...

Open Future Joins Journalistic Investigation into Belgian and Flemish Government AI Spending – Open Future We're partnering with Apache on a journalistic investigation into how Belgian and Flemish governments are investing in artificial intelligence.

We're investigating Belgian & Flemish government AI spending with Apache. Who benefits? Does it serve the public or big tech? Combining policy research & investigative reporting to ensure public value. Learn more about the project: openfuture.eu/blog/open-fu...

Eurosky dawns – Open Future The Eurosky initiative is building European social media infrastructure on the ATProtocol, representing a new step in Europe's digital sovereignty agenda as policymakers seek alternatives to Big Tech…

🇪🇺 Eurosky is building EU-hosted social media infrastructure on ATProtocol. @aditya.myatproto.social explores priorities for digital sovereignty: Commons for Content Moderation (CoCoMo), decentralized architecture, and reducing Big Tech dependency. openfuture.eu/blog/eurosky...