brianpeiris

The steam/itch situation is a bit complicated. I think the organization behind that action has bad motivations, so it's not the best example for the long term. My guess is that itch will update their NSFW policy to allow for some NSFW content, but not content that depicts truly heinous material.

The reason I would support that type of activism, to an extent, is that it was effective against Musk when he started turning twitter into a hellscape: https://www.freepress.net/sites/default/files/2022-11/stop_toxic_twitter_coalition_open_letter_to_twitter_final.pdf

I pointed to an actual thing that already happened. How is that fear mongering?

What are your thoughts on this? Is this not an effect on open-source due to regulation? https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2023/10/13/removal-of-mazda-connected-services-integration/

When I mentioned the TAKE IT DOWN act, we were talking about regulations in general. I did not equivocate laws to EOs. That said, this EO will have effects on regulatory agencies. Therefore, it will have an effect on software as we discussed, open source or not.

When you say that Trump's EO's only affects the executive branch, it sounds like you're trying to say the EO doesn't matter. My point is that it does matter.

I know this. Are you saying that it doesn't matter that dozens of government agencies will now have reduced AI regulation? Have you read how many agencies and departments will be affected? https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf

I have never once said in this conversation that EOs are law. You insist on bringing that up. What I am saying is that Trump's EOs do have an actual effect, regardless of what their historical purpose was, and that's what matters in the real world.

Sure. My understanding of your original comment was that Trump's EO won't matter to open source AI because regulations, or lack of regulations, won't affect open source AI. My point is that regulations do affect open source AI in some significant way.

Is this not a real and direct effect of EOs? Doesn't it matter that NASA was forced to change their behavior because of EOs? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trumps-dei-purge-is-hitting-nasa-hard/

I agree with this, mostly. The tech is real -- The blockchain has solid math behind it. I don't know if I agree with its value though. The viable usecases are significantly limited compared to the hype behind them. Bitcoin for example is still inherently inefficient compared to conventional payment systems. AI feels a lot like that -- lots of hype with very little substance at its core.

I'm not sure if this has happened yet, but in theory the TAKE IT DOWN act could be used to shutdown an open source deepfake code or model repository. In that case you're right that there will be copies that spring up, but I think it is significant that popular projects could be taken down like that.

You're saying that EO's are not policy?