AI Technologies are taking the world by storm, bringing new efficiencies and possibilities in both business and personal life. Like most new products and services, humans like the ability to try it before they buy it. Open source software and tools make testing the capabilities of new technology possible. Running a pilot or test version of new software or ITAM tools is a best practice, but is it always the best idea? As with all business decisions, that depends on your needs, goals, staff level, business culture, how you use and store data, and many other varying factors.

Advantages of Open Source AI Tools

An obvious advantage of open source AI is the cost-effectiveness. Since there is no requirement to purchase licenses, the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of the AI tools is mostly attributed to the use and maintenance of the tool in your IT environment. This financial freedom can drive creativity and innovation, leading to the creation of better and more unique products and services to provide solutions to business and customer/client issues.

Another is the flexibility of open source licensing. User organizations have the ability to tailor the tool to meet their specific needs for any project, team, or function. This ability to ensure that the tools are relevant and effective for various unique contexts and applications can be incredibly beneficial to several Key Process Areas of the ITAM program, especially Policy Management. For example, policy developers in your organization can customize the software to suit each of their requirements for automatic data extraction for policy effectiveness metrics based on specific ITAM Program needs and goals.

A third advantage to consider is there is an active community of developers, engineers, and testers that support the AI tool’s development over time. With a vast number of developers involved, AI software can rapidly evolve and improve. Updates, patches, bug fixes, and new features can be developed and applied faster and more frequently than before. The collaboration of the open source AI environment provides a wide range of knowledge to tap into for expertise, best practice sharing, and collaboration on new updates, customizations, or solutions.

In a perfect world, these advantages may make open source seem like the obvious solution for bringing AI technology into your ITAM Program. However, we do not live in a perfect world, so even with these advantages, there are some notable disadvantages you’ll have to consider as well.

Disadvantages of Open Source AI Tools to Consider

While there is a great community of developers, engineers, etc. to support open source software and tools, there is no official support team. Open source AI typically leaves the user group to troubleshoot issues on their own, which can lead to the wasted time and resources of your Help Desk or Service Desk when something goes wrong. Also, without dedicated support, it may be difficult to have complete understanding and knowledge of the tool needed to fully support implementation and integration with your IT environment, leading to additional challenges in using the tools and hindering the overall success of the project, task, or function.

Worse than that are the security risks associated with open source AI. It’s open to public study and modification, so any discovered vulnerabilities could be easily identified and exploited by hackers and malicious actors. If a flaw in the coding is discovered, it could reasonably be taken advantage of by attackers before the community releases a patch or fix. Depending on what data the open source AI program has access to, this could result in a data breach for your organization.

How does open source store and process data? Depending on the design of the AI tool, data processing can occur on local servers or on cloud platforms. Data storage can also vary. In most cases, open source AI tools store data locally, allowing organizations to maintain control over their information. But AI tools may be integrated with cloud services or data may be stored off-site. This could raise concerns about data security and privacy. Also, some open source licensing includes clauses that allow the developers to collect usage data and feedback in order to improve the software or tool. This could include prompt data and other organizational data that the AI system has access to.

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So how do you decide whether the advantages outweigh the disadvantages? Remember: There’s no one size fits all in ITAM! What works well for one organization may be a detriment to yours. It’s crucial to be aware of the terms and conditions for each tool you bring into your organization’s IT environment and AI is no different, open source licensing or otherwise. By getting as much information about the tool as possible, and weighing the organization-specific benefits and risks, you can make an informed decision about whether open source AI is right for your organization, just like any other IT asset.