Techstrong TV — Mon, Jun 22

Open Source Is the Inevitable End State for AI

Alan Shimel with Duane O'Brien

Open source is no longer just a software movement — it is the foundation the entire AI stack is built on, from CUDA to Kubernetes to the models themselves. Duane O'Brien, the new Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative (OSI), joins Alan Shimel on TechStrong TV to talk about the organization that has shepherded the Open Source Definition since 1998, why OSI-approved licenses are the Good Housekeeping Seal of the software world, and how OSI is taking on its biggest challenge yet — defining what open source actually means in the age of AI. Duane shares his journey from PlayStation play tester to leading open source program offices at PayPal, Indeed, and Capital One, and walks Alan through OSI's growing role in policy, education, and advocacy. He and Alan dig into why the Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) matters, why AI systems don't fit neatly into traditional software categories, and why — despite every attempt to build moats — open source will always win in the end.