Open Source economics are broken, and AI is rapidly accelerating the crisis. Adam Wathan and his team built one of the most popular Open Source projects on the planet, Tailwind CSS, and their business model around it disappeared overnight because of AI.
“[I feel] like a fucking idiot for somehow being able to build this CSS framework that’s taken over the world and is used by everything and is super popular but I can’t figure out how to have it make enough money [for a small team to work on it].” — Adam Wathan
That ain’t right.
Current and former member companies of the Open Source Pledge have been systematically doing our part to pay for the value we receive from Open Source volunteers, including Adam and his team. It’s time for the rest of you to step up.
Join the Pledge. Pay for the value you receive from Open Source maintainers like Adam. You have no excuse.