When layoffs hit, AI often gets the blame. But according to Hilary Carter, SVP of Research at the Linux Foundation, the data tells a very different story.

The narrative around artificial intelligence and job displacement has dominated headlines for months, but new research from the Linux Foundation paints a dramatically different picture. Far from eliminating positions, open source AI is actually driving unprecedented demand for skilled technical talent while delivering measurable economic benefits across industries.

In a recent conversation, Hilary Carter, SVP of Research at the Linux Foundation, shared findings that challenge the prevailing doom-and-gloom discourse around AI employment. Her team’s empirical research reveals what she calls the “triple advantage” of open source engagement—demonstrating how organizations benefit simultaneously across security, innovation, and talent competitiveness.

The Real AI Employment Story: Skills Shortage, Not Job Loss

“The data shows that technical teams are woefully understaffed in areas of urgent strategic priority—namely AI, cybersecurity, and FinOps and cost optimization,” Carter explains. This stark reality contradicts the widespread assumption that AI automatically means fewer jobs.

The Linux Foundation’s research—including their May 2025 report on the economic and workforce impact of AI, developed with support from Meta—reveals a more nuanced truth. The study “positively correlated the use of open source AI with economic growth, employee retention, and an organization’s competitive posture as it relates to its ability to carry out its AI strategy.”

Carter’s team tripled their AI-focused research projects in 2025 compared to the previous year, reflecting the explosive growth in organizational AI initiatives. “I don’t run a technical department. I don’t run a product team. I can only imagine what companies are doing to meet their AI integrations—at the product level, at the operational level,” she notes.

The Sovereign AI Shift: Why Global Collaboration Matters More Than Ever

One of the most significant trends emerging from the research is the push toward sovereign AI solutions—customized models designed to meet specific organizational or national needs. This isn’t about technological nationalism, however. As Carter emphasizes, “global collaboration must be part of this.”

The upcoming Linux Foundation report on sovereign AI, set to be announced at the AI_dev Summit in Amsterdam, preliminarily shows that while organizations prioritize bespoke solutions, “to think of building a sovereign AI solution without global open source collaboration would be a terrible loss for that end product.”

This approach allows for differentiation through data and regulatory customizations while maintaining the collaborative foundation that makes open source technology so powerful. “Not all the smart people with the good ideas work inside your corporate walls, nor within your industry, nor within your country,” Carter points out.

Research That Drives Real-World Action

The Linux Foundation’s research goes beyond academic exercises—it’s designed to create actionable insights for leaders and policymakers. Every report includes specific calls to action, whether related to resource allocation, budget formation, or strategic planning.

Take their March 2025 report “Unaware and Uncertain,” which measured organizational readiness for the EU’s Cyber Resilience Act (CRA). The research revealed “very low levels of readiness,” leading to specific recommendations for achieving CRA compliance. This exemplifies how empirical data translates into practical guidance for the open source community.

Carter emphasizes the critical importance of knowledge translation: “The most frustrating thing that I can think of is doing all this research and having it not get to its appropriate audiences—not land on the desks of the people who need to read it.”

The Global Nature of Open Source Innovation

Despite being headquartered in the United States, the Linux Foundation’s research consistently demonstrates the global nature of open source innovation. Carter proudly notes, “Linux itself—the Linux kernel—was invented in Helsinki by Linus Torvalds, and it scaled to change the world. The internet was created by Sir Tim Berners-Lee at CERN in Switzerland.”

This global perspective is reflected in their regional research initiatives, including their fourth Europe-focused report, which is being released in Amsterdam. However, the findings consistently show that “what’s happening in Europe is happening in North America, is happening in Asia”—the fundamental principles of open source success transcend geographic boundaries.

The Economic Evidence for Open Source Engagement

Perhaps most importantly, the Linux Foundation‘s research provides concrete evidence of the economic value of open source participation. Their findings help organizations “measure the economic benefit of engagement in open source project communities in terms of an organization’s security posture, policy, risk management, innovation profile, and competitiveness in the talent market.”

With the addition of Frank Nagle as Chief Economist, the organization is well positioned to continue building this empirical foundation for open source value. As Carter concludes, “We have so much work to do to convince decision makers that their open source teams are a net value-add—that open source engagement positively contributes to ROI.”

The message is clear: in an era of AI transformation, organizations that embrace open source collaboration aren’t just surviving—they’re thriving. The research proves it, and the opportunities are immense for those ready to act on these insights.