State of Open: The UK in 2024 Phase One: “AI and Open Innovation”
OpenUK’s first report of 2024 focuses on AI and Open Innovation as global interest in openness in AI rises. It features exclusive interviews with two of the most influential UK-linked figures in open AI — Toran Bruce Richards, founder of AutoGPT, and Emad Mostaque, founder of Stability AI — alongside analysis of data on AI development in open repositories in the UK and beyond, a literature review of recent reporting, and legal analysis of openness in AI.
Report Includes:
Introduction and Conclusion
- Introduction, Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK
- Conclusion, Dr Jennifer Barth, Research Director, OpenUK
Interviews
- Toran Bruce Richards, Founder, AutoGPT
- Emad Mostaque, Founder, Stability AI
Thought Leadership
- The International View, Margaret Hartnett, Co-founder, Progressio AI Ltd
- The Software of the Past versus the Software of the Future, Professor Neil Lawrence, DeepMind Professor of Machine Learning, University of Cambridge
Data and Analysis
- Data on AI development in open repositories in the UK and beyond
- Literature review of recent AI reporting
- Legal analysis of openness in AI, including the “open source AI” definition debate and gradients of openness
Executive Summary
Phase One examines what the rise of AI means for open innovation and what the UK must do to capitalise on its open source strength in the AI era.
The UK’s open AI moment
- The UK enters 2024 with world-leading per-capita open source participation and two of the most influential open AI projects with UK roots — AutoGPT (Scotland) and Stability AI (London)
- Rising global interest in open approaches to AI gives the UK a window to convert open source leadership into AI leadership
Openness in AI is not binary
- The report explores gradients of openness across AI’s components — code, weights, models and data — and the growing confusion and open-washing risk around the term “open source AI”
- Legal analysis examines licences and the definitional work then in progress
What the data shows
- Analysis of AI development in open repositories in the UK and beyond, benchmarking the UK’s position against global competitors
- A literature review draws together the state of AI reporting at the start of 2024
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