Elon Musk Says Twitter Will Open Source Its Recommendation Code on March 31

BGR reports: Elon Musk seems to be close to making good on his promise to open-source Twitter's code. Well, at least part of it.

In a post on the social media platform, the Twitter CEO announced that the company will open-source the code used to recommend tweets on March 31. Musk did not provide any other details about how that will work or specifically when on that date the code will be provided.

Musk has been teasing and promising open-sourcing Twitter's code for a while now, so it'll be interesting to see what the impact is...

Excited to see...

[Kokuyo]

...what the internet will find offensive about this one :D.

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

Knowing Elon, he will probably release code that is under NDA from a third party by mistake.

Re:

[Antique Geekmeister]

Knowing corporate abusers, they won't publish the backdoors and list of authorized personnel permitted to browse and block content.

Re: Excited to see...

[Archangel_Azazel]

That is idiotic. You can't just slap an NDA on something illegal and then sue if someone reports said information.
But I wouldn't expect anything less than idiocy from an AC poster anyway so I guess that tracks...

Re:

[jhoegl]

You can, you would just have to fight it in court and win. Should be an easy win, but as we have seen, some judges are corrupt, some are incompetent, and the law being straightforward can still be interpreted by religous zealots to fit their narrative.

Re: Excited to see...

[peragrin]

Knowing Elon he won't publish the modified code which up votes his own comments.

Re:

[The MAZZTer]

Not paying employees to fix bugs and expecting the internet to do it for free does it for me.

Re:

[queazocotal]

Except finding a bug may not be reporting it, but finding an edge case that effectively lets you spam and get recommended.

Re:

[mobby_6kl]

Firing everyone who knew anything and then claiming the code is too complex to understand.

code review?

[sprins]

Maybe he’s looking for someone who understands what the code actually does

Re:code review?

[NFN_NLN]

Then there's no point posting it on slashdot.

Re:

[bartekgm]

Maybe he’s looking for someone who understands what the code actually does

I agree

Don't hold your breath

[Comboman]

Musk has been promising full self drivings cars in 6 months for the last 10 years. I'll believe it when I see it.

Re:Don't hold your breath

[swillden]

Musk has been promising full self drivings cars in 6 months for the last 10 years. I'll believe it when I see it.

Right, because releasing something that already exists is the same thing as creating something that has never existed.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

Musk spews crap all the time on twitter. Hollow promises. Obvious lies. It's an entirely rational position to hold off believing it until it's actually done.

Re:

[NFN_NLN]

Yeah I remember when he said he was going to send a rocket to space and, get this, make it reusable. As if.
Then he said he was going to create a global communication using satellites.
My favorite was when he said he could make street legal electric cars that could beat 0-60 times of actual ICE sports cars.
Then he had some fantasy about digging underground transportation tunnels... under cities. Make me laugh clown.
I mean, this guy is clearly a mental case living in his own fantasy.

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

Remember when Musk accused a guy of being a pedo, when the guy wasn't?

Remember when Musk said he'd secured $420 per share for Telsla but was lying?

Remember when Musk said he'd donate $6 billion to end world hunger but it turned out he was lying?

Then he had some fantasy about digging underground transportation tunnels... under cities. Make me laugh clown.

Yeah Musk is SO AMAZING that he travelled back in time to Victorian London and invented the idea of digging tunnels under cities for moving people around. F

Re:

[WDot]

Just want to comment about the world hunger story. The $6 billion is due to somebody on Twitter claiming that if Musk donated $6 billion, world hunger would be solved. Musk fed the troll, saying that if that person could explain precisely how a single $6 billion lump sum would solve world hunger forever, he would donate it. The troll (unsurprisingly) did not have a detailed plan on how to do this. Indeed, the UN World Food Program (link below)estimates a cost of $40 billion per year (until 2030 apparently)

Re:

[NFN_NLN]

> the UN World Food Program (link below)estimates a cost of $40 billion per year

So we've sent 2 years worth of world hunger money to Ukraine?
If we let ethno pro-Russian portions of Ukarine join Russia we could solve world hunger for 2 years.

Re:

[NFN_NLN]

> There are no majority pro-ruzzian "portions" of Ukraine

You live in a bubble.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

> Right, because releasing something that already exists is the same thing as creating something that has never existed.

Getting a chunk of internal code ready for external public release is often no small task.

Place your bets below.

Re: Don't hold your breath

[Dixie_Flatline]

Right, but then donâ(TM)t promise it. Particularly if youâ(TM)re the CEO of a public company and it runs afoul of your fiduciary duties.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

If he does it will just mean Twitter gets even worse as people learn how to game the system to get their posts promoted.

Another Context

[SuperKendall]

If he does it will just mean Twitter gets even worse as people learn how to game the system to get their posts promoted.

So this means you are against using any open source software on the internet I guess?

Open source software is more secure because many people can review it and fix security issues; the same would apply to Twitter where if lots of people can see how to game it, the will point that out and Twitter can fix it.

Re:

[AmiMoJo]

I'm against taking what is, by most accounts, poor quality code, that is currently secret and has not had time to be scrutinized and hardened by evolving in public, and making it open source.

Something like the Linux kernel is battle hardened and has been open source for a long time, so is fairly reliable. Something like Twitter is years of hacks upon hacks, only holding up because nobody outside Twitter really knows how it works. Maybe a few years after being open sourced it might be good enough for product

Re:

[NFN_NLN]

> Something like Twitter is years of hacks upon hacks, only holding up because nobody outside Twitter really knows how it works.

1. You admit Twitter's original code is "hacks upon hacks"
2. Musk wasn't around for Twitter's original development.
3. Musk release this "code" (which likely more of an algorithm outside the critical path anyways).
4. Twitter doesn't go down in flames after releasing the "code" from being abused.
5. You admit Musk was able to turn around and "battle harden" Twitter.

Ooooh. Can't wa

Re:

[narcc]

This assumes that there will be anyone competent willing to work to improve Twitter's code for free. Most open source projects have just a handful of core developers, with few other contributors, and that's with projects that have an active community of users who have put the code into production. Twitter's code only really benefits twitter.

If we've learned anything about open source, it's that ESR's "many eyeballs" are usually looking the other way [codinghorror.com].

Re:

[rattaroaz]

He's not looking for people to improve the code. He's looking to improve the reputation of the algorithm. As it is, people are being banned and censored without knowledge of what the parameters for such actions are. Open sourcing the code will just allow people to understand what is permissible and what is not, and hopefully how they come to that assessment.

Re:

[narcc]

That would explain the two week delay, but what happens when people figure out that the real recommendation system doesn't work like the one he posted on github?

Re: Another Context

[nsbfikwjuunkifjqhm]

Twitter's recommendation algorithm (the code allegedly being outsourced) is not the same as the system that gets people censored or banned (which is largely comprised of published documentation, internal policy guidelines, and enforced by manual processes, including apparently "Whatever Elon feels like today" since he's the one claiming to be responsible for getting a bunch of far-right shitheels unbanned).

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:

[narcc]

Oh, my ... where to begin...

Open source software is more secure because many people can review it and fix security issues;

This doesn't happen. Few people even look at the code, fewer still understanding, and just a handful of people ever contribute to it. That's reality. If Elmo thinks he's getting free labor out of this, he's in for a surprise.

So this means you are against using any open source software on the internet I guess?

That's not what the parent is saying. He's saying that open sourcing code related to recommendations will make it easier for dishonest actors to 'game the system' to more effectively promote their tweets. (No, this doesn't put everyone on a level playin

Re:

[dawg1234]

My Tesla fully drives itself (though not very well) — stops at traffic lights, changes lanes, turns at intersections, drives around bicyclists and stopped cars. It is good enough that I feel it is helping, but I do have to take over pretty often.

Musk does tend to promise more than what he can deliver, but saying this is all vaporware is not quite correct. Some progress is made.

Re:

[bill_mcgonigle]

> saying this is all vaporware is not quite correct. Some progress is made.

I watched that big AI Day - what was it, 2019? I seriously believed his talk about an exponential AI learning curve and that within a year I could have my Model 3 be a robotaxi while I was at work, paying for itself over time.

I thought about getting a car loan for one - but then reconsidered. I'm glad I was shy.

"Some progress" would be a small condolence to someone who invested based on a false promise with no product in sight f

Can't wait to see

[CodeInspired]

I can't wait to see how this plays out. Whatever your thoughts are about Elon, you have to give him a little credit. He's not afraid to expose his $44 billion dollar purchase for at least trying to make it better. Has there ever been an investment of this magnitude only to publicly air out all of its dirty laundry?

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

Has there ever been an investment of this magnitude only to publicly air out all of its dirty laundry?

I'm not sure if being forced to buy it by the SEC after promising to buy it while off his head high counts as an "investment".

Also you know he hasn't done it yet. And if he does, what if it's just a deep neural network? Sure you have the code, but without the weights and training data (and training code), the run-time algorithm tells you next to nothing about what it's doing.

Be Real

[SuperKendall]

I'm not sure if being forced to buy it by the SEC after promising to buy it while off his head high counts as an "investment".

I am, it doesn't matter if he was forced to buy it, since he did buy it the attempt will be to make money on it, same as if he'd bought it by choice. Just harder since he had to pay more than he wanted.

Also you know he hasn't done it yet

So you are claiming he will not? Why? Why would he say that so close to the date of release knowing he was not going to? Pretending like it's not g

Re:

[serviscope_minor]

I am, it doesn't matter if he was forced to buy it, since he did buy it the attempt will be to make money on it, same as if he'd bought it by choice.

That's being excessively generous. A drunk bid on Ebay isn't an "investment" even if you can do a bunch of damage control when you're temporarily sober.

So you are claiming he will not?

Well sure, go ahead and praise King Elno for something he hasn't done and may or may not do.

Why would he say that so close to the date of release knowing he was not going to?

Fuck

Re: Be Real

[Archangel_Azazel]

I'm not sure if being forced to buy it by the SEC after promising to buy it while off his head high counts as an "investment".

I am, it doesn't matter if he was forced to buy it, since he did buy it the attempt will be to make money on it, same as if he'd bought it by choice. Just harder since he had to pay more than he wanted.

I was going to post some pointed, fact laden comment. Then i realized that I would be attempting to engage in rational talk with someone who thinks being threatened and *forced to keep

Re:

[narcc]

it doesn't matter if he was forced to buy it, since he did buy it the attempt will be to make money on it

That's not going to be easy. Twitter didn't make money before, and he's all but completely trashed its reputation. Oh, and he's lost a lot more [cnn.com] than he initially (over)paid due to his gross incompetence. Even if twitter magically started making $10 billion/year, which is extremely unlikely, it would take him 20 years before he "broke even", ignoring inflation and the wealth that $200 billion could have otherwise generated over that period.

So you are claiming he will not? Why?

Because he's incompetent and has already lost too much money. So

Re:

[ArchieBunker]

He fired too many knowledgeable people and doesn’t have a clue how any of it works. Now he’s going to crowd source development because it’s free. All his ass kissers will bend over backwards and work for free instead of submitting billable hours.

Early Release

[raftpeople]

Apparently some of it was released already:
* * Twitter Recommendation Engine *
* Written by Jim "Tex" Leet
*
IDENTIFICATION DIVISION.
PROGRAM-ID. COBCALC.
ENVIRONMENT DIVISION.
DATA DIVISION.
WORKING-STORAGE SECTION.
01 PARM-1.
05 CALL-FEEDBACK PIC XX.
01 FIELDS.
05 INPUT-1 PIC X(10).
01 INPUT-BUFFER-FIELDS.
05 BUFFER-PTR PIC 9.
05 BUFFER-DATA.
10 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "TWEET_ID".
10 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "USER_ID".
10 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "DATA_PTR".
10 FILLER PIC X(10) VALUE "END".
05 BUFFER-ARRAY REDEFINES BUFFER-DATA
OCCURS 4 TIMES
PIC X(10).

PROCEDURE DIVISION.
DISPLAY "CALC Begins." UPON CONSOLE.
MOVE 1 TO BUFFER-PTR.
MOVE SPACES TO INPUT-1.
* Keep processing data until END requested
PERFORM ACCEPT-INPUT UNTIL INPUT-1 EQUAL TO "END".
* END requested
DISPLAY "CALC Ends." UPON CONSOLE.
GOBACK.
* End of program.

Re:

[jfdavis668]

Good thing I can still read FORTRAN ;)

Re:

[jfdavis668]

Yes ;)

Re:

[angelbar]

COBOL ?

3, 2, 1... commence the gaming of the algorithm!

[swillden]

Spammers are going to love this

What's the point?

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

Unless someone is interested in spinning off a Twitter clone, like SoylentNews did with the Slashcode, what's the point of open-sourcing the Twitter code?

Since *you*'re not running it, why should you care what *they*'re running? Also, you have no guarantee Twitter is actually running the code they open-sourced. In fact, if they're smart, they really shouldn't run the code they open-sourced, because they would be vulnerable to any security flaw discovered by studying the code,

Re:

[real_nickname]

Almost free code analysis from security researchers may be worth it (20 work on it,1 find something you pay a small bounty to one only $$$). Black hats are not really a problem (it's good enough for browser, it should be ok for twitter). Plus free enhancement from his army of bootlickers.

I can't wait to see it

[thegarbz]

I'm genuinely curious how they implemented the "elevate Elon's tweets above all others" routine. https://www.theverge.com/2023/... [theverge.com] Free speech for me but not for thee.

Re:

[byronivs]

That's the great part, we get to "see" that...maybe. Why announce it ahead of time at all though? Just release and announce it on the 31st. Smacks of performance, and I suspect will be followed up with hemnhaws, then wells, maybe not *that* license, I'll get back to you.

Brilliant

[byronivs]

Not only does he get the PR of the Recommended algorithmic source (if that's what really is happening here) so everyone can see just what's going on for glasnost. And gets all his work done for free by acolytes. Not sure I see a downside here. And, full disclosure, I am NOT a fan, of either this man (I do use his stuff) or this company ever, My take is that it's easy scoop for lazy columnists. If what you have to say is important enough, you'll do more than use someone else's house. That's just as lazy. Pause for self-reflection. I never have used twitter.

code != algorithm

[groobly]

More than likely, the code is such a mess and so devoid of useful comments, that it will be impossible for mere mortals to divine what the algorithms are that it is implementing. Musk is probably hoping that someone will help his engineers understand what it actually does.

Will be exploited.

[Gravis Zero]

In the event that any element of a tweet will result in it's promotion then this will be immediately exploited. Basically, "Search Engine Optimization" for messages/profiles is going to occur.

Trying to scam free help

[beforewisdom]

He is trying to get free help in lieu of paying someone he fired, while trying to look like a good guy while doing so.

If this turns out to be true

[ArchieBunker]

Then a review of the code can validate this study. https://cdn.cms-twdigitalasset... [cms-twdigitalassets.com]

Going to be a lot of crickets chirping if it’s true.

At least I get it, now - on Mastodon

[rbrander]

The only effect on me of this entire stupid bunfight, was when a Canadian journalist, whose fortune was made by going viral on Twitter with a story, and is such a Twitter fanboy that he immediately dismissed Mastodon in his podcast - too hard to use, he had to pick a server.

I raised an eyebrow, got onto Mastodon in 5 minutes, realized it was pointless unless you picked a bunch of funny and interesting people to follow. That took another 50. WaPo journalists, the wonderful Dan Froomkin, SF writers I love

The first thing he's done ...

[Big Hairy Gorilla]

... that my first reaction wasn't "what an asshole".

Seriously, this should be a good thing because the opaqueness of the social media algorithms has everyone jumping through hoops of fire trying to game them, and everyone arguing about them like they actually understand them (culture wars right vs. left, your side is getting a better deal).

It's effing time that the algorithms were opened to scrutiny, and eventually, improvement.

How it works?

[Growlley]

You get Musk then assorted rightwing fuckwits - wether you want them or not.

A code sample...

[tlhIngan]

Here's a small sample of it.

if (post.author == "Elon Musk")
{
      feed_score += 1000;
{

Reference:
https://sports.yahoo.com/elon-... [yahoo.com]

Basically Musk got annoyed that Biden got more engagement for his Superbowl post than his got, so he asked Twitter engineers to boost his tweets.

This ended up turning the feeds into an "Elon Musk, all the time" for many people.

Poison code?

[Lost Penguin]

Or just who holds the actual copyrights to Twitter?
What "Twitter" code is being released?
How do we know Twitter actually owns it; I could see them releasing code "borrowed" in the past, from some other open or closed source source projects.