‘Open’ model licenses often carry concerning restrictions

This week, Google released a family of open AI models, Gemma 3, that quickly garnered praise for their impressive efficiency. But as a number of developers lamented on X, Gemma 3’s license makes commercial use of the models a risky proposition. It’s not a problem unique to Gemma 3. Companies like Meta also apply custom, non-standard licensing terms to their openly available models, and the terms present legal challenges for companies. Some firms, especially smaller operations, worry that Google and others could “pull the rug” on their business by asserting the more onerous clauses. “The restrictive and inconsistent licensing of so-called ‘open’ AI models is creating significant uncertainty, particularly for commercial adoption,” Nick Vidal, head of community at the Open Source Initiative, a long-running institution aiming to define and “steward” all things open source, told TechCrunch. “While these models are marketed as open, the actual terms impose various legal and practical hurdl ... Read full article.