Open Future

spui25.nlMapping Data WorkData work undergirds much of the digital infrastructures that we use every day. Content moderation on online platforms or the ‘AI revolution’ more broadly hinge on often exploited and invisibilised ...

Tomorrow, @aditya.myatproto.social moderates Mapping Data Work: a discussion on the issues and struggles of hidden and often exploited human labour that sustains digital infrastructure and AI in Europe. With speakers Sana Ahmad, Margarida Silva, and Andreas Hänisch. www.spui25.nl/programma/ma...

openscholarship.gitbook.ioProgramme | Open and Engaged 2026British Library's Open and Engaged 2026 Conference, as part of the International Open Access Week.

Tomorrow, 20 October: the British Library hosts its online Open and Engaged Conference on 'The Cost of Knowledge'. @paul.eurosky.social speaks on why responsible openness requires public control over infrastructure–not just Open Access licensing. Register: openscholarship.gitbook.io/open-and-eng...

New strategy paper: Europe's copyright infrastructure should be a federated ecosystem of certified registries, not a central database. By @paul.eurosky.social and @posth.me, drawing on the #CommonsDB pilot, accounting for 6.6M+ verified declarations. openfuture.eu/publication/...

luma.comStrengthening Media’s Bargaining Power over Generative AI: Next Steps for EU Policy · Luma[ONLINE] About The developments in generative and General Purpose AI (GPAI) systems have raised concerns about extractive data practices, market concentration…

23 Sept

How can public interest media strengthen its position in relation to generative AI providers? @paul.eurosky.social joins The Data Tank's online panel on next steps for EU policy, building on the new report 'Weaving a Common Vision'. 29 September, from 15:00 CEST. Register: luma.com/824xze49

22 Sept

Registration is now open for 'INNOVATE. PROTECT. EMPOWER. How Cultural Heritage Can Make Public AI a Reality', an online policy talk taking place on 29 September 2026 from 16:00 to 18:00 CET. Organised by Europeana as part of the European Heritage Hub. pretix.eu/Europeana-Fo...

22 Sept

@alek.eurosky.social will moderate the dialogue 'Shaping Public AI in Europe & making it happen through cultural heritage' on how the cultural heritage sector can contribute to a public-interest approach to AI, with Luca Cominassi, Sofie Taes, Céline Geissmann, EM Lewis-Jong and Giorgos Stamou.

commonsdb.orgReflecting on the CommonsDB Final ConferenceHighlights from the CommonsDB final conference at EUIPO Alicante, exploring how open standards and federated networks can deliver scalable copyright infrastructure for Europe.

21 Sept

In his latest post, Doug McCarthy reflects on the CommonsDB final conference at EUIPO, where an 18-month pilot processed over 6.5 million verified rights declarations. This points towards the use of federated, community-governed registries. Read the highlights: www.commonsdb.org/blog/reflect...

17 Sept

Are you attending RightsCon Continue Summit next week? @alek.eurosky.social will join the online roundtable "Beyond Data Extraction: Building Equitable Data Governance Frameworks" hosted by @accessnow.org. Spots are limited to 30: rightscon.summit.tc/t/rightscon-...

9 Sept

The EU bets its AI Gigafactories will strengthen Europe's tech sovereignty, while the tender allows hyperscalers to act as anchor customers. In her latest article, Zuzanna Warso asks what kind of AI future Europe is really choosing. openfuture.eu/blog/the-sha...

8 Sept

#Fediday 2026: @aditya.myatproto.social joins Saskia Welch and Sebastian Vogelsang to discuss moderation in the open social web: shared infrastructure, governance, funding, and the role of public institutions. 📅 12 Sep 2026, 19:00 CEST – Berlin 🔗 ctalx.c-base.org/fediday-2026...

openfuture.euPublic Money, Public Platforms? – Open FutureA European Citizens' Initiative calls for publicly funded social media. But copying the same centralized, surveillance-based model would repeat the harms. Public money deserves a more ambitious target...

8 Sept

To learn more about Aditya's perspective on the topic, read some of his previous analysis: openfuture.eu/blog/public-...

openfuture.euCommonsDB Final Conference – Open FutureThe CommonsDB project's final conference marks its end and looks ahead to the future of EU copyright infrastructure.

3 Sept

Join the livestream of the final CommonsDB conference on 14 September. The sessions will focus on the project’s results and the future of copyright infrastructure in Europe. Register to join online: openfuture.eu/event/common...

openfuture.euSquaring the Copyright and AI Circle – Open FutureResponses to the latest EU copyright consultation fall into two camps, each calling for half of the Commission’s objectives. Only a handful of submissions show how to achieve both. This analysis highl...

2 Sept

EU copyright reform seeks both stronger rightholder remuneration and control, and more AI training data. Consultation responses show goals collide in this analysis from @paul.eurosky.social, which finds that only a small group proposes a path that could achieve both. openfuture.eu/blog/squarin...

openfuture.euCommonsDB Final Conference – Open FutureThe CommonsDB project's final conference marks its end and looks ahead to the future of EU copyright infrastructure.

20 Aug

The final CommonsDB conference will take place on September 14 in Alicante, hosted by the EUIPO. The one-day program will focus on the project’s results and the future of copyright infrastructure in Europe. Register for the livestream: openfuture.eu/event/common...

symposium.opentechresearch.orgHomepage - OTR SymposiumSHAPING THE OPEN TRANSITION

11 Aug

We are a content partner for the first @opentechresearch.org Symposium and its preliminary agenda is live. 📍Universitat de Barcelona, 26–27 October, with sessions on governance, open source hardware, sustainability, adoption, Open Science, and public procurement. 🔗 symposium.opentechresearch.org

6 Aug

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 organized by @ngicommons.bsky.social will take place on 12 November in Brussels. We will lead a session on the Digital Commons Strategic Agenda: From Roadmap to Implementation. Registration free for in-person and online participation: ti.to/ngi-commons/...

Open Future reposted

Open Technology Research

@opentechresearch.org

5 Aug

We're pleased to announce that the preliminary agenda for the first Open Technology Research Symposium is now live! We want to thank everyone who submitted. (more info ⬇️) Explore the agenda and register now: symposium.opentechresearch.org

30 July

📬 In our latest newsletter: AI is draining the knowledge commons, Wikimedia risks becoming a “dark commons,” and a new EU copyright reform begins with the challenge of providing a workable path for AI development while ensuring control and remuneration for rightsholders. mailchi.mp/openfuture/b...

29 July

More control for rightsholders or easier access for AI developers? Only shifting the obligation from training to deployment can deliver both. Analysis based on 432 responses to the EU Commission’s call for evidence regarding a new legislative initiative on copyright. openfuture.eu/blog/squarin...

Open Future reposted

NGI Commons

@ngicommons.bsky.social

28 July

🚀 Registrations are now open for the 2nd Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026! 📅 12 Nov 2026 | 📍 Brussels 🎫 commons.ngi.eu/event/digita... Register now and join us in Brussels! #DigitalCommons #Europe #TechSovereignty @openfuture.bsky.social @openforumeurope.org @martel-innovate.com @cnrs.fr

21 July

Generative AI is reshaping how knowledge is made, found, and trusted. A new white paper written with @wikimediach.bsky.social maps how the Wikimedia movement can keep its agency. Read it here: openfuture.eu/publication/...

21 July

The paper will be presented at #Wikimania2026 on 25 July during the session "Knowledge Commons AI Consortium: developing a roadmap for collective intelligence”, featuring @alek.eurosky.social, @valdelli.bsky.social, and Dr. Shani Evestein Sigalov, followed by a discussion with the community.

botpopuli.netWho Pays for the Commons?Three and a half years after the emergence of generative AI as a new technology paradigm, there is broad agreement that AI companies have extracted enorm...

20 July

Who pays for the commons? Generative AI was built on the open web, but little value has flowed back. @paul.eurosky.social’s latest at @botpopuli.bsky.social argues copyright can't fix this on its own — and makes the case for a levy on commercial AI deployment. Read it: botpopuli.net/who-pays-for...

Key themes that shape open knowledge and Wikimedia—the future of the commons, digital sovereignty, and the strain that large-scale AI crawling places on open platforms—are intertwined with our work. From July 21 to 25, we will lead 4 sessions at #Wikimania2026 dedicated to discussing these topics.

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wikimedia.eventyay.comPosters session - S1 floor Wikimania 2026Poster session time!

23/07 Poster session — Pushing ethical AI to the top of the field, by Alek Tarkowski and Lea Gimpel. wikimedia.eventyay.com/wm/wikimania...

wikimedia.eventyay.comKnowledge Commons AI Cluster - developing a Movement-aligned roadmap for collective intelligence Wikimania 2026Generative AI is reshaping how knowledge is produced, discovered, and trusted. Movement conversations have often focused on impact and risks. This session focuses on agency: how can Wikimedia play an…

25/07. Knowledge Commons AI Cluster — a working session building on our upcoming white paper with Wikimedia CH, presenting a mission for Wikimedia and AI toward a Movement-aligned roadmap for AI and openness. With Alek Tarkowski and Ilario Valdelli. wikimedia.eventyay.com/wm/wikimania...

wikimedia.eventyay.comDefending the knowledge commons: policies for a resilient Wikimedia Wikimania 2026Digital sovereignty has risen to the top of policy debates in Europe, and around the world. There is growing interest in Digital Commons as a pathway to sovereignty that centres public value and…

22/07. Defending the knowledge commons: policies for a resilient Wikimedia — a panel on where Digital Commons like Wikipedia fit in the digital sovereignty debate, and what public policies could support them. With Aditya Singh, Anna Mazgal, and Tanveer Hasan. wikimedia.eventyay.com/wm/wikimania...

wikimedia.eventyay.comCollateral Damage? Human Creativity and Interaction in the AI Crawling Era Wikimania 2026The rapid growth of AI crawlers is reshaping how human-created knowledge circulates online, often faster than communities, publishers, and platforms can adapt. Last year's Wikimania featured a…

23/07. Collateral Damage? Human Creativity and Interaction in the AI Crawling Era — how large-scale AI crawling affects open knowledge communities, platforms, and publishers. With Alek Tarkowski, Anna Tumadóttir, Monica Westin, and Stan Adams. wikimedia.eventyay.com/wm/wikimania...

Open Future reposted

communia

@communia.bsky.social

6 July

📢 COMMUNIA, together with 35 co-signing organisations, has published an open letter urging MEPs to protect the use of open standard licences for public sector information in the Digital Omnibus. ✉️Read the open letter and share it with your representative! communia-association.org/2026/07/06/o...

communia-association.orgOpen letter: Protect open standard licences for public sector informationTogether with more than 30 civil society organisations from across Europe, we are calling on the European Parliament to protect the use of open standard licences for public sector information.

Open Future reposted

NGI Commons

@ngicommons.bsky.social

6 July

📄 New: @ngicommons.bsky.social #webinar report on: Europe's Tech Sovereignty Package is now available. Download the report and discover key policy wins and next steps 👇: commons.ngi.eu/2026/07/03/e... #NGICommons #DigitalCommons #TechSovereignty @catemartel.bsky.social @openfuture.bsky.social

Open Future reposted

Aditya Singh

@aditya.myatproto.social

2 July

My latest for @openfuture.bsky.social discussing the Commission's move to @wsocial.eu. I like that they're paying more attention to #atproto, or open protocols more generally. But W-Social is a puzzling choice right now, especially when @mu.social / @eurosky.social is right there!

Open Future@openfuture.bsky.social

The European Commission has joined W-Social and committed €1.4M to a protocol-based pilot. @aditya.myatproto.social argues that sovereign social media depends on open infrastructure and reduced dependencies, not just European ownership. openfuture.eu/blog/w-socia...

openfuture.euW-Social: What does sovereignty mean for social media? – Open FutureThe European Commission’s move to W-Social frames it as a European alternative to X, but its closed-source code and reliance on Bluesky’s infrastructure show that sovereign social media requires open ...

2 July

1 July

Open Future is joining the @opentechresearch.org Symposium 2026 as a content partner. @alek.eurosky.social will be on the program committee. The call for proposals is open until 5 July 2026. Submissions on open technologies, policy, and governance are welcome. 🔗 symposium.opentechresearch.org

openfuture.euCopyright challenges in open-source AI development in the European Union – Open FutureThe EU wants to build digital sovereignty through open source AI, yet its own copyright rules stand in the way. A study of eight European initiatives maps the resulting legal friction and proposes sol...

1 July

The EU wants digital sovereignty built on open source AI, but its own copyright rules stand in the way. A new study by @communia.bsky.social with Maria Drabczyk (Centrum Cyfrowe) & @alek.eurosky.social maps the legal friction and how to fix it. openfuture.eu/publication/...

30 June

📬 In our latest newsletter we cover how the EU funds its AI ambitions, which gaps remain difficult to verify, why the cultural sector should help shape AI rather than merely adopt it, and the missed opportunity for the Digital Commons in the EU’s Tech Sovereignty Package. mailchi.mp/openfuture/u...

openfuture.euGPT-NL respects copyright — cui bono? – Open FutureGPT-NL refuses training data that copyright law permits. The result is a model that cannot compete, highlighting why sustaining the information ecosystem requires the right to be paid rather than a ri...

29 June

The Dutch GPT-NL project shows that refusing data permitted under EU law — in the name of "respecting copyright" — holds the model back. Sustaining Europe's AI ecosystem means rebuilding copyright as a right to be paid. Read more in @paul.eurosky.social's latest: openfuture.eu/blog/gpt-nl-...

openfuture.euFrom frameworks to factories – Open FutureThe EU now considers AI as a strategic industrial sector—but can the investment claims behind the agenda be verified? This report maps how the EU funds AI and shows a fragmented landscape that makes…

25 June

There is no consistent EU-wide method for tagging AI-related spending, which makes scrutiny of Europe's AI industrial strategy very difficult. Read more in the latest from Zuzanna Warso and Júlia Keserű: openfuture.eu/publication/...

commonsdb.orgVisualizing the registry: CommonsDB Explorer gets a dashboardCommonsDB's new dashboard provides the first comprehensive view of data in the registry

25 June

CommonsDB has a new dashboard that offers the first comprehensive view of more than three million registry declarations from @wikimediase.bsky.social and @europeana.bsky.social. Learn more about our registry for public domain and openly licensed works: www.commonsdb.org/blog/visuali...

24 June

The EU has pledged €200 billion for AI. How much of that reflects actual commitments, and how much is political ambition? Our latest report, "From Frameworks to Factories", provides a baseline for analysis: openfuture.eu/publication/...

openfuture.euBeyond Open Source – Open FutureThe EU's Tech Sovereignty Package puts open source at the center of Europe's sovereignty agenda. But by narrowing the strategy to code and leaving non-code Digital Commons and data out of scope, it…

19 June

The EU's Tech Sovereignty Package puts substance behind open source: a maintenance instrument, 'open source first' procurement, and a new Foundation for strategic open source assets. What's missing? Find in @aditya.myatproto.social and @alek.eurosky.social analysis: openfuture.eu/blog/beyond-...

17 June

The EU's Tech Sovereignty Package sidesteps non-code Digital Commons and leaves the data question for frontier AI unanswered. Open source is a starting point, not a destination. Learn more in our latest analysis by @aditya.myatproto.social and @alek.eurosky.social openfuture.eu/blog/beyond-...

symposium.opentechresearch.orgHomepage - OTR SymposiumSHAPING THE OPEN TRANSITION

10 June

Open Future is joining the @opentechresearch.org Symposium 2026 as a content partner. @alek.eurosky.social will be on the Program Committee. The call for proposals is open until 5 July 2026. Submissions on open technologies, policy, and governance are welcome. 🔗 symposium.opentechresearch.org

5 June

📬 Our latest newsletter issue covers a blind spot in the EU's approach to copyright and AI reform, and the risk of a "dark commons" and new cultural loops that could keep knowledge infrastructure alive. Read more and subscribe: mailchi.mp/openfuture/u...

4 June

The EU's new copyright reform initiative conflates AI training and inference-time use. @paul.eurosky.social argues this analytical gap risks producing incoherent legislation before the impact assessment has even begun. legalblogs.wolterskluwer.com/copyright-bl...

conference.publicspaces.netWhat is Public AI? - PublicSpaces ConferencePanel - Can public AI save public media?

3 June

Can public AI save public media? @alek.eurosky.social will join the @publicspaces.net Conference2026 in Amsterdam tomorrow to explore what developing AI in the public interest requires in practice. 11:00, Studio – Public AI track. conference.publicspaces.net/en/session/w...

Open Future reposted

communia

@communia.bsky.social

20 May

📢 Join us at our upcoming event where we will discuss the legal uncertainty faced by developers of public AI systems and knowledge institutions and outline the way forward! 📅 June 1, 2026 ⏰ 14:00–15:30 CEST 📍 TownHall Europe, Brussels Register Now! mailchi.mp/communia-ass...

27 May

Our Director of Strategy @alek.eurosky.social joins the opening session of the AI-BRIDGES Symposium (29 May, London & online) to discuss Open Knowledge communities and AI. Full program and registration: ai-bridges.org/2026/03/30/s...