A profile, not a number
It is tempting to imagine openness as a single ladder from closed to open, with each release one rung higher. The reality is stranger: openness is a shape.
A system can be highly accessible but weakly reproducible. It can be highly reproducible but difficult to deploy. It can be permissively licensed at the model layer while depending on data with complex upstream conditions. It can be open to modification while imposing safety restrictions on use. It can be transparent today but vulnerable to unilateral relicensing tomorrow.
So ask a profile of questions instead of one:
- Can I download the artifact?
- Can I run it locally?
- Can I study its components?
- Can I modify it?
- Can I use it commercially?
- Can I reproduce a substantially equivalent result?
- Can I participate in governing the project?
A model's openness is not a single number. It is a shape — and the shape is what you should evaluate.
Adapted from the draft opening chapter of But Is It Open?