The Future of Free (and Who Will Pay for It)

Who bears the cost of free in our AI-accelerated world? The foundational promise of open source software and open content licensing — that knowledge and code should be freely accessible to all — faces a significant challenge in the age of artificial intelligence. AI has put a huge strain on both the “libre” and “gratis” aspects of free culture, but of these twin pressures, the cost aspect is the one currently pressing down the hardest. As AI systems increasingly rely on vast datasets scraped from the open Web, open repositories, wikis, forums, and other commonly (and commons-ly) available works, the infrastructure costs of supporting these free resources are growing exponentially. What was once sustainable through volunteer labor and modest hosting fees now requires massive computational resources, bandwidth, and storage to serve both human users and the voracious appetites of large language models. 

This talk examines the emerging tension between the philosophical ideals of open access and the economic realities of AI-driven demand, lensed through the experiences we’ve had to date managing programmatic access to content from Wikipedia. The presentation will: 

• Review the landscape of current approaches to this challenge, from rate limiting and API monetization to corporate payment programs;  
• Dig into the details of the approach we’ve taken to date at the Wikimedia Foundation in our attempt to balance these opposing forces;  
• Consider whether these solutions preserve or undermine the democratic promise of open knowledge; and
• Indulge in speculation regarding possible futures that could result from the choices we make to support free in this newly expensive environment. 

Lane Becker is the President of Wikimedia LLC, a commercial subsidiary of the Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that stewards the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. Wikimedia LLC runs Wikimedia Enterprise, a software platform for organizations that wish to reuse Wikimedia content on their own sites & services. 

Previously, Lane was a strategist for 18F, a recently-shuttered consultancy inside the Technology Transformation Services division of the US government, working to modernize government digital services. While there, Lane started and ran 10x, a federal venture-style fund to invest in technology products and services that benefit the American public. Prior to 18F, Lane worked for the nonprofit Code for America as their Head of Product. 

Back in his start-up days, Lane cofounded Adaptive Path, a pioneering user experience design firm, acquired by Capital One Bank to serve as their innovation lab; Measure Map, an online analytics tool acquired by Google that became the face of Google Analytics; and Get Satisfaction, an online customer service tool acquired by the social media firm Sprinklr. He has worked with the Institute for the Future as a research affiliate in their Governance Futures Lab and also coauthored a book on continuous innovation practices entitled “Get Lucky: How to Put Planned Serendipity to Work for You and Your Business.”  

This event may be photographed/recorded, and images may be used for future marketing, promotional or archive purposes. If you would prefer not to be photographed, please let organisers know at the event. If you have any questions regarding accessibility, please contact us at gail@ed.ac.uk.