The Value of Code is Dropping to Zero with Yann Lechelle

In this episode of The Business of Open Source, I talked with Yann Lechelle, Executive President of :Probabl.

Perhaps the most interesting part of the conversation was about whether or not there is a risk from generative AI being trained on open source code, then generating new open source code and then re-training itself on that code. Yann says that there is already enough code in the world to give AI enough source material to work with, at least when it comes to ‘traditional’ code. So while perhaps there are issues with types of code that really require creativity, in most contexts we don’t need any more human-written code. 

Does this mean the value of code is dropping to zero? That’s what Yann things… but for open source companies with permissive licenses, the value of code was already zero. This means that what really matters is community and brand. 

What do you think? Do you think generative AI makes the value of code close to zero, and puts all software companies in the same boat as open source projects with permissive licenses? If you have an interesting take, let me know.

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