I concur with the article. I’ve tried various tools but I keep coming back to text files in vim. Recently I’ve been using a notes/ directory with a bash function to quickly create and edit a named text file for a new topic. That gives me the little bit of organization and separation for isolated tasks, while still having a main notes.txt file for miscellaneous notes and todos. I really like being able to stay in the terminal and using ripgrep for everything.

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf

The steam/itch situation is a bit complicated. I think the organization behind that action has bad motivations, so it’s not the best example for the long term. My guess is that itch will update their NSFW policy to allow for some NSFW content, but not content that depicts truly heinous material.

The reason I would support that type of activism, to an extent, is that it was effective against Musk when he started turning twitter into a hellscape: https://www.freepress.net/sites/default/files/2022-11/stop_toxic_twitter_coalition_open_letter_to_twitter_final.pdf

I pointed to an actual thing that already happened. How is that fear mongering?

What are your thoughts on this? Is this not an effect on open-source due to regulation? https://www.home-assistant.io/blog/2023/10/13/removal-of-mazda-connected-services-integration/

When I mentioned the TAKE IT DOWN act, we were talking about regulations in general. I did not equivocate laws to EOs. That said, this EO will have effects on regulatory agencies. Therefore, it will have an effect on software as we discussed, open source or not.

When you say that Trump’s EO’s only affects the executive branch, it sounds like you’re trying to say the EO doesn’t matter. My point is that it does matter.

I know this. Are you saying that it doesn’t matter that dozens of government agencies will now have reduced AI regulation? Have you read how many agencies and departments will be affected? https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/07/Americas-AI-Action-Plan.pdf

I have never once said in this conversation that EOs are law. You insist on bringing that up. What I am saying is that Trump’s EOs do have an actual effect, regardless of what their historical purpose was, and that’s what matters in the real world.

Sure. My understanding of your original comment was that Trump’s EO won’t matter to open source AI because regulations, or lack of regulations, won’t affect open source AI. My point is that regulations do affect open source AI in some significant way.

Is this not a real and direct effect of EOs? Doesn’t it matter that NASA was forced to change their behavior because of EOs? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/trumps-dei-purge-is-hitting-nasa-hard/

I agree with this, mostly. The tech is real – The blockchain has solid math behind it. I don’t know if I agree with its value though. The viable usecases are significantly limited compared to the hype behind them. Bitcoin for example is still inherently inefficient compared to conventional payment systems. AI feels a lot like that – lots of hype with very little substance at its core.

I’m not sure if this has happened yet, but in theory the TAKE IT DOWN act could be used to shutdown an open source deepfake code or model repository. In that case you’re right that there will be copies that spring up, but I think it is significant that popular projects could be taken down like that.

You’re saying that EO’s are not policy?

I think it’s nice that many Americans don’t want what Trump wants. I think it’s unfortunate that in this case it doesn’t actually have an effect because the policy will be acted upon anyway.

I was giving an example of regulation that has an effect on open source AI

Okay. My argument is that the semantics don’t matter because what matters is policy.

I think the bipartisan TAKE IT DOWN bill has and will have a substantial effect on the proliferation of open source deepfake models. Sure, a tech savvy individual will still be able to download a model themselves and do whatever, but it significantly different from having deepfake services readily available for millions to use. Is it absolute enforcement, no, but it has a substantial effect on the world.

Based on your post history, I think we’re on the same side. I understand that this administration does not represent all of America. Unfortunately though, the semantics of it all don’t really matter. Trump got the majority vote, and that’s what matters. The effects of his policies matter. From the perspective of the rest of the world, this is what (the majority of) America has chosen. I don’t like it either.

Do you think that regulations have no effect on open source AI?