Open Commons Podcast
Hosted by Open Commons
A long-form conversation with the builders and researchers creating open-source AI, focusing on the technical and economic case for their work.
This is a highly technical and insider-focused podcast about the future of AI infrastructure. Rather than debating abstract ethics, host Sachi Kamiya sits down with top-tier figures like a co-author of the original Transformer paper and the former CEO of Stability AI to discuss the specific mechanisms of building a decentralized, user-owned AI ecosystem. The conversations dissect the differences between 'open weights' and true 'open source,' the function of secure enclaves, and the architecture of 'agentic operating systems.'
“Unlike many AI podcasts that focus on ethics or applications, Open Commons goes deep into the infrastructure layer. Its distinctive feature is its access to the architects of the open AI movement and its focus on their specific projects and technical arguments for why an open ecosystem is not just preferable, but structurally necessary.”
Who hosts this show
Open Commons is a podcast hosted by Sachi Kamiya that explores the technical, economic, and structural arguments for building advanced AI in the open. Each episode features a deep conversation with a founder, researcher, or academic actively working on open, accountable, and community-governed AI. Sachi Kamiya is the Director of Growth and Venture at the Sentient Foundation and was a founding member of Polygon Ventures, bringing a background in both venture capital and engineering to the discussions.
Credentials & credits
- Director of Growth and Venture, Sentient Foundation
- Founding Member, Polygon Ventures
- B.S. in Electrical Engineering, Caltech
- Investor, Symbolic Capital
- Former Credit Trader, Bank of America
Other ventures
- Sentient Foundation
- Symbolic Capital
- Angel Investor
What kind of podcast
When new episodes drop
- 01
- 02
- 03
- 04
- 05
- 06He Said No To Closed AI | Illia Polosukhin, NEAR | Open Commons Ep. 4Jun 2, 2026 · 58 min
- 07AGI Will Never Be Yours | Emad Mostaque | Open Commons Ep. 3May 19, 2026 · 56 min
- 08AI Knows Too Much About You | Sewoong Oh | Open Commons Ep. 2May 5, 2026 · 55 min
Notable episodes
- 01He Said No To Closed AI | Illia Polosukhin, NEAR | Open Commons Ep. 4
Features a co-author of the seminal 'Attention Is All You Need' paper, who explains why he chose to build a decentralized protocol instead of joining the closed AI labs his co-authors founded.
- 02AGI Will Never Be Yours | Emad Mostaque | Open Commons Ep. 3
The co-founder and former CEO of Stability AI discusses why he left the influential open-source company to start a new venture, and his views on the societal risks of centralized AI.
- 03AI Knows Too Much About You | Sewoong Oh | Open Commons Ep. 2
A deep dive into the technical and philosophical challenges of AI privacy and loyalty with a leading academic researcher in the field, grounding the conversation in specific projects like DataComp.
What you'll be asked on this show
Sachi Kamiya's interview style is deeply informed by her guests' prior work. She often opens by establishing a guest's unique position or a recent major career event. She probes by synthesizing a guest's complex ideas or framing a debate into a clear dichotomy (e.g., 'centralization or disempowerment') before asking which they fear more. A signature move is to challenge a guest's premise by comparing it to the very thing they oppose, such as asking how a 'winner-take-all' open OS differs from a closed monopoly. She uses guests' academic papers and specific projects as direct source material for questions, ensuring the conversation remains grounded in concrete work rather than just speculation.
This is a single-host, long-form interview show. Sachi Kamiya structures conversations around distinct thematic blocks (e.g., privacy, ownership, architecture) and often prefaces questions with a concise summary of the guest's work or a complex topic to ground the audience before posing a pointed question.
Questions Open Commons keeps coming back to
12 cataloguedIf you're going on this show as a guest, expect some version of each of these. Each note explains when Open Commons reaches for it.
origin
1- Q.01
“Why did you leave your previous high-profile role to start this new venture?”
This is often an opening question to establish the guest's origin story and core motivation.
technique
1- Q.01
“What do you mean by '[a key term from your work]'?”
She frequently asks for definitions of the guest's core concepts to ensure the audience isn't left behind.
controversy
1- Q.01
“Your paper lists [A, B, and C] as key pillars. Which one is the most broken today?”
This forces the guest to prioritize problems and reveals their current focus.
personal
2- Q.01
“What about this field, like AI privacy, keeps you up at night?”
This question is used early on to elicit the guest's personal stakes and concerns.
- Q.02
“How would you explain your complex work to your kids or parents?”
This is used to get a simplified, high-level metaphor or explanation of a guest's research.
process
1- Q.01
“What's the biggest lesson from your last company that you're applying to your new one?”
This question surfaces hard-won lessons and connects the guest's past work to their present.
future
2- Q.01
“Can open-source AI realistically catch up to the closed, centralized models?”
She asks this to get a direct prediction on the field's core power dynamic.
- Q.02
“What makes you confident that we'll end up in a user-owned AI world?”
Asked after outlining challenges, this question probes the foundation of a guest's optimism.
craft
1- Q.01
“How is building trustworthy AI different from just building bigger foundational models?”
This question serves to differentiate the guest's niche work from mainstream AI development.
industry
2- Q.01
“Why isn't just releasing model weights enough to be considered truly 'open source'?”
This question pushes guests to articulate the nuances of 'openness' beyond surface-level definitions.
- Q.02
“Do you agree with [another thought leader]'s take on AGI, and what's your definition?”
She uses current industry debates to situate the guest's own views and definitions.
mindset
1- Q.01
“After years in the AGI race, what do you make of the people and culture driving it?”
This prompts an insider's sociological take on the motivations within the AI industry.
Topics covered repeatedly
Who gets booked here
Guests are high-profile founders and researchers at the forefront of the open-source and decentralized AI movement. They are typically builders with specific, often technical, points of view, such as the founders of major protocols (NEAR) and open-source companies (Stability AI) or leading academics in AI privacy and trust.
- Illia Polosukhinon He Said No To Closed AI | Illia Polosukhin, NEAR | Open Commons Ep. 4
- Emad Mostaqueon AGI Will Never Be Yours | Emad Mostaque | Open Commons Ep. 3
- Sewoong Ohon AI Knows Too Much About You | Sewoong Oh | Open Commons Ep. 2
Where to find this show
Audience & reach
Based on the episodes reviewed, the podcast does not currently feature third-party sponsors or advertisements.
Subscriber and view counts are pulled live from YouTube and re-verified on a 30-day cycle. Listener estimates for the RSS feed aren't published here unless they're host-verified.
Pitch Open Commons
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People also ask
- Who is the host of Open Commons?
- The host is Sachi Kamiya, Director of Growth and Venture at the Sentient Foundation and a founding member of Polygon Ventures.
- Is the Open Commons Podcast still active?
- Yes, the podcast releases new episodes approximately twice a month, with the most recent episodes published in June 2026.
- What is the format of the show?
- It is a long-form, single-host interview show featuring deep conversations with leaders in the AI space.
- Where can I listen to the podcast?
- The podcast is available on YouTube, its official website (opencommons.ai), and major podcast platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts.
- What kind of topics are discussed?
- The show focuses on the technical, economic, and structural case for open-source and decentralized AI, including topics like data ownership, AI privacy, governance, and the infrastructure required for user-owned AI.
Built from the show's public RSS feed, YouTube, the host's own websites, and the cited sources below. Computed and AI-extracted fields are labelled. Facts only — no private info, no fabrication, no transcripts republished.
Sources & how this page was built
This page is AI-assisted, grounded in the public sources cited below, and host-verifiable. We publish facts only; we do not republish transcripts. If anything here is wrong, the host can claim and correct the page above.Model: gemini-2.5-pro · high confidence
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