Chatwoot

Welcome to Open Pioneers #24 - your weekly update from the forefront of open source.

Today, we talk about:

• The new Model Openness Framework (MOF) by LF AI & Data Foundation

• Chatwoot, an open source customer engagement platform

• New open source projects, including:

  • An Open, Multi-modal Catalog for Data & AI.

  • A full-stack template for building directories.

Since last week, we have welcomed 17 new Open Pioneers. 👋 If you like this week's post, it would make my day if you would share it with a friend or colleague.

🤔 Is your model really open source?

In the last year, several companies got accused to do “open washing” by claiming that there models are open source while, for example, not giving access to weights. This has triggered a lively discussion about what open source actually means in the context of AI. Simply giving free access to the source code is not enough in this case and does not correspond to the basic idea of open source.

Today, the Linux Foundation AI & Data Foundation announced the Model Openness Framework (MOF) and with it a tool called IsItOpen.AI.

IsItOpen.AI helps users determine the availability and licensing of open source AI models and datasets. It provides information about whether specific AI resources are truly open and what licenses govern their use. The platform aims to bring transparency to the open source AI ecosystem, making it easier for researchers, developers, and businesses to find and utilize AI models and datasets that meet their needs.

By using the tool, users can quickly verify the openness of AI resources, ensuring they comply with licensing requirements and are suitable for their projects. This tool is especially valuable for those in the AI community who rely on open source resources for innovation and development, as it simplifies the process of identifying truly open and usable AI assets.

You can try it out for free.

🔍 Spotlight: Chatwoot, an open source customer engagement platform

Chatwoot is an open source customer engagement platform designed to streamline communication between businesses and their customers across multiple channels. It integrates various communication platforms such as email, live chat, social media (including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram), WhatsApp, and SMS into a single interface. This allows businesses to manage all their customer interactions from one place, improving efficiency and response times.

Chatwoot also offers numerous features to enhance customer support and engagement. These include a unified inbox for handling queries, collaboration tools like private notes and conversation assignments, and automation features such as canned responses and smart replies.

Combining all these features, Chatwoot is a viable open source alternative to SaaS products like Intercom, Zendesk, or Salesforce Service Cloud. The project is open sourced under a MIT Expat license and has almost 20k stargazers on GitHub.

Website | GitHub

🔥 New open source projects started last week

🔭 Open source social monitor

📚 More open source content

• Let's take a look at Oracle's love and hate relationship with open source software Link

• Apple embraces open source AI with 20 Core ML models on Hugging Face platform Link

• Designing an open-source microscope Link

• JavaScript needs more money Link

• China to build smart automotive software industry through open source communities Link

Until next week,

Jonathan (@jonathimer)