John O’Nolan, founder of Ghost:
Open source was built upon the idea that anyone should be able to study, modify, replicate and share software. Free from the grasp of corporations and copyrights to prevent it.
In a strange way, I’m beginning to wonder if AI might end up fulfilling that vision more completely than open source ever did.
As recently as early last week, after an agentic coding session, I said (to myself) “Perhaps all software should be open source now”.
I’ve never been an open source zealot. I use it. I contribute to it. I write my own and release it freely. In fact, most of the code I write ends up in the open. But I’m totally ok with people or businesses keeping source completely closed. I think the choice is the author’s.
But, whether we like it or not, and whether we like how we got here or not, we’re about to have most source written by LLMs. Perhaps we’re already there? We’re very, very close either way. If effectively all new source is being written by LLMs, shouldn’t it be all open?