January 13, 2026
Ctrl+Alt+Debate: gloves off
FOSS in times of war, scarcity and (adversarial) AI [video]
Open‑source fans brawl over ethics, AI bots, and EU ties before the talk even airs
TLDR: A FOSDEM talk about open‑source in an age of war and AI bots sparked a pre‑show brawl: purists want software to stay free of restrictions, while others worry about misuse and reject “ethical license” enforcement. Add EU‑funding suspicion and jokes about no video yet, and the community is on fire.
A FOSDEM 2026 talk titled “FOSS in times of war, scarcity and (adversarial) AI” isn’t even live yet, and the comments already feel like a cage match. The session is set to ask how free and open source software (FOSS) should adapt when wars, propaganda, and AI bots rewriting code enter the chat. The community? Absolutely split.
One camp is furious at any hint of “ethical licenses” or use restrictions. Their rallying cry: FOSS is a gift to humanity, no strings attached. “A gift should be given freely,” declares one commenter, calling any moral gatekeeping hypocritical. Others say this talk reads like the obituary for 90s techno‑optimism—we built the web assuming people would be good, now state actors use our tools better than we do. But trying to legislate “good use” into licenses? Skeptics say that’s unworkable.
Then the plot twist: a commenter digs up the speaker’s ties to NGI Zero (an EU‑funded internet program), fanning “politics meets code” drama. Meanwhile, the meta‑crowd grumbles: why post this now when there’s no video yet? Another mourns the lack of a beloved snarky summary—“No n‑gate today.”
Catch the stream when it drops here and the chat here. If the talk delivers even half this heat, buckle up.
Key Points
- •A FOSDEM 2026 Main Track session will discuss FOSS amid war, scarcity, and adversarial AI.
- •The talk examines how geopolitical conflicts and bot-generated code influence the global FOSS community.
- •FOSS is presented as a large-scale collaborative achievement and digital public good enabling user empowerment.
- •Historical context includes the post–Cold War optimism and the genesis of the World Wide Web at CERN.
- •Recent challenges outlined include war leveraging FOSS, disinformation via FOSS-powered social media, authoritarian tech use, and Europe’s attempts to regulate dual-use tech.