NetBSD gets record $120K in donations as an 'AI-free' FOSS haven
AI summary
NetBSD received a record 120 donations last month totaling $120,000, more than double its original $50,000 fundraising goal — a striking figure at a time when open-source projects generally struggle for money. The Register attributes the surge to growing anti-AI sentiment in open source, noting that the Linux world keeps moving toward AI: Linus Torvalds said in July that Linux is not an anti-AI project, and Debian voted to allow AI-generated contributions. That causal explanation is a media interpretation; the reports offer no direct evidence about donors' motives.
In-depth insight
As mainstream open-source projects embrace AI, NetBSD's fundraising result suggests that being explicitly AI-free can itself be a draw for donors.