# Free and Open AI/Machine Learning


## Abstract


This publication is created to promote and advocate the use of FOSS
AI/Machine Learning for real practical business use cases. Machine learning
is a fascinating technology. Free and Open AI/ML should be
the norm for business innovation. So simple to use for complex problems.
Freedom to control machine learning technology is not self-evident. Free
and Open Machine Learning gives you full control.

This publication empowers everyone to make a head start using the
powerful machine learning technology in a Free, Open and Simple way.


:::{attention} 
This is a living document. 

A stable version of this publication (version 2025) is available as hard copy. 
You can order it at Amazon, click [here](https://a.co/d/akvKy6z) to order. 

:::

Machine learning is an exciting and powerful technology. The continuous
use and growth of machine learning technology opens new opportunities.
It also enables solving complex problems in a simple way. Problems that
are impossible to solve by using traditional software technologies. This
great machine learning technology should available for everyone. This
means that everyone should be able to learn, play and create great
applications using machine learning technology. But also reuse existing
machine learning solutions, inspect these solutions and improve solutions of
others. Without borders or strings attached.

The key focus of this publication is on Free and Open Machine Learning
technologies. This to remove barriers for learning, playing, using and
reusing machine learning technologies for real practical use cases for
everyone.

Of course you can use or switch to commercial cloud solutions to deploy
your machine learning driven application in production. But besides
vendor lock-in, crucial aspects like safety, privacy and security for
machine learning applications are only possible when using fully
transparent Free and Open machine learning building blocks and
solutions.

This document describes an open machine learning architecture. Including
key aspects that are involved for real business use. This means e.g.
that we focus on FOSS machine learning software and open datasets.

Since the majority of humans are not graduated mathematicians, we skip
deep mathematical background concepts of machine learning algorithms in
this publication. Good books with lots of mathematical background
information on how machine learning works are available for more than 70
years. There are plenty excellent free and open publications available
if you want to learn everything about the inner working of the
mathematical algorithms that power the current new machine learning
applications. In the learning resources section in this publication you
can find a list of good references. All references in this publication
are publications available under a creative commons license (cc-by).

This publication has a core focus on outlining how Free and Open machine
learning can be used for real business use cases. This is done by
describing:

-   Key machine learning concepts. The focus is on concepts that are
    needed in order to use FOSS machine learning frameworks and
    datasets when creating a machine learning powered application.
-   An open reference architecture for creating and maintaining a
    machine learning solution architecture and IT landscape.
-   Presenting useful and most used FOSS machine learning building
    blocks. Most Open Solution Building Blocks for machine learning are
    FOSS based. The most used solutions have a healthy ecosystem of
    (open) tools and service companies that enables you to create your
    machine learning application as fast as possible.
-   Key quality aspects for engineering and maintaining your machine
    learning application.
-   Important safety, privacy and security aspects to prevent disasters.
-   Ethical issues (like bias) and guidelines for handling these issues
    in a transparent way.

No pieces of program code or mathematical formulas is presented in this
publication. The emphasis is on machine learning concept and applying
machine learning technology for real business use cases. No programming
knowledge is needed to enjoy and learn machine learning.

This publication is created to give you a head start with using Free and
Open machine learning technology to solve business problems.
Without any strings attached, so the focus is on Free and Open
transparent machine learning technologies and solutions only!

```{warning}
This document is a living document! Collaboration is fun, so
**Help Us** by contributing ! Some more background information of the project can be found in [the readme on github.com](https://github.com/nocomplexity/FreeAndOpenMachineLearning).
And do not forget to join the [ROI movement!](https://www.bm-support.org/projects/)
```

![image](/images/coverimage.png)