Short abstract:

This study explores assetization of open source in the AI industry, by examining the GitHub Copilot, an automated code completion AI launched in 2021 by GitHub, a dominant platform in the software development. This exemplifies the assetization process of the knowledge commons by AI technology.

Long abstract:

Recently, there has been growing concern about the use of humanity's intellectual commons by tech giants to train generative artificial intelligence (AI). In particular, Open source, or Free and/or open source (FOSS), which has been shared by the software developer community since the free software movement, is being transformed into the massive amounts of data for AI training. This study explores assetization of open source in the AI industry, by examining the GitHub Copilot, an automated code completion AI launched in 2021 by GitHub, a dominant platform in the software development. Based on interviews with experienced open source developers, the author tries to show that open source communites operate within a distinctive moral economy, and that this moral economy can serve as a catalyst for rendering open source asset for tech companies. Furthermore, after looking at recent litigation in US over the assetization of open source, the author analyzes the assetization strategies of these knowledge commons. This illustrates a new strategy of assetization that leverages the commons and digital infrastructure such as GitHub, as opposed to the traditional strategy of privatizing such as intellectual property.