Let Us Be Free

Short summary

The free software movement's core principle—users should understand and modify their tools—faces an existential test with AI. Today's developers trade freedom for cloud-based inference APIs; open-weight models aren't truly open-source since weights aren't auditable code. The post argues we must demand open-source AI, transparent training workflows, and local inference to preserve developer sovereignty.

• •Free software movement (Stallman, 1980s) fought for user freedom to understand, modify, and run software
• •AI inference today replicates the vendor lock-in problem: closed APIs replace agency with dependency
• •Open-weight models are insufficient; true freedom requires open-source AI, transparent training, and local inference

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.