In January 2025, the PSF submitted a proposal to the US government National Science Foundation under the Safety, Security, and Privacy of Open Source Ecosystems program to address structural vulnerabilities in Python and PyPI. It was the PSF’s first time applying for government funding, and navigating the intensive process was a steep learning curve for our small team to climb. Seth Larson, PSF Security Developer in Residence, serving as Principal Investigator (PI) with Loren Crary, PSF Deputy Executive Director, as co-PI, led the multi-round proposal writing process as well as the months-long vetting process. We invested our time and effort because we felt the PSF’s work is a strong fit for the program and that the benefit to the community if our proposal were accepted was considerable. We were honored when, after many months of work, our proposal was recommended for funding, particularly as only 36% of new NSF grant applicants are successful on their first attempt. We became concerned, however, when we were presented with the terms and conditions we would be required to agree to if we accepted the grant. These terms included affirming the statement that we “do not, and will not during the term of this financial assistance award, operate any programs that advance or promote DEI, or discriminatory equity ideology in violation of Federal anti-discrimination laws.” This restriction would apply not only to the security work directly funded by the grant, **but to any and all activity of the PSF as a whole**. Further, violation of this term gave the NSF the right to “claw back” previously approved and transferred funds. This would create a situation where money we’d already spent could be taken back, which would be an enormous, open-ended financial risk. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core to the PSF’s values, as committed to in our mission statement: > _The mission of the Python Software Foundation is to promote, protect, and advance the Python programming language, and to support and facilitate the growth of**a diverse and international community** of Python programmers._ Given the value of the grant to the community and the PSF, we did our utmost to get clarity on the terms and to find a way to move forward in concert with our values. We consulted our NSF contacts and reviewed decisions made by other organizations in similar circumstances, particularly The Carpentries. In the end, however, the PSF simply can’t agree to a statement that we won’t operate any programs that “advance or promote” diversity, equity, and inclusion, as it would be a betrayal of our mission and our community. We’re disappointed to have been put in the position where we had to make this decision, because we believe our proposed project would offer invaluable advances to the Python and greater open source community, protecting millions of PyPI users from attempted supply-chain attacks. The proposed project would create new tools for automated proactive review of all packages uploaded to PyPI, rather than the current process of reactive-only review. These novel tools would rely on capability analysis, designed based on a dataset of known malware. Beyond just protecting PyPI users, the outputs of this work could be transferable for all open source software package registries, such as NPM and Crates.io, improving security across multiple open source ecosystems. In addition to the security benefits, the grant funds would have made a big difference to the PSF’s budget. The PSF is a relatively small organization, operating with an annual budget of around $5 million per year, with a staff of just 14. $1.5 million over two years would have been quite a lot of money for us, and easily the largest grant we’d ever received. Ultimately, however, the value of the work and the size of the grant were not more important than practicing our values and retaining the freedom to support every part of our community. The PSF Board voted unanimously to withdraw our application. Giving up the NSF grant opportunity—along with inflation, lower sponsorship, economic pressure in the tech sector, and global/local uncertainty and conflict—means the PSF needs financial support now more than ever. We are incredibly grateful for any help you can offer. If you're already a PSF member or regular donor, you have our deep appreciation, and we urge you to share your story about why you support the PSF. Your stories make all the difference in spreading awareness about the mission and work of the PSF. How to support the PSF: * Become a Member: When you sign up as a Supporting Member of the PSF, you become a part of the PSF. You’re eligible to vote in PSF elections, using your voice to guide our future direction, and you help us sustain what we do with your annual support. * Donate: Your donation makes it possible to continue our work supporting Python and its community, year after year. * Sponsor: If your company uses Python and isn’t yet a sponsor, send them our sponsorship page or reach out to sponsors@python.org today. The PSF is ever grateful for our sponsors, past and current, and we do everything we can to make their sponsorships beneficial and rewarding.

Streit um geschlechtergerechte Sprache: In Friedrichsdorf sorgt eine Feuerwehr-Satzung, die nur noch weibliche Amtsbezeichnungen kennt, für reichlich Zündstoff zwischen Bürgermeister und CDU-Fraktion.

Krafton, the publisher of the likes of: PUBG, Subnautica, inZOI and Dinkum, have just put out a press release talking about a major investment into AI. Currently, the news post is only in Korean and features a lot of corpo-suit speech but running it through Google translate (it may be a little rough), gives a good idea of what's going on at least. Their CEO, Kim Chang-han, said they're transforming into an "AI-first" company which involves establishing "an AI First Culture". Beginning today, they're planning to roll out an "AI-centric management system centered on Agentic AI" for "automating tasks while allowing employees to focus on creative activities and complex problem-solving". Chang-han believes this will allow them to "leap forward as a company that fosters employee growth and expands the scope of organizational challenges through AI". One part of the plan is to invest around "KRW 100 billion" on a GPU cluster that will "support multi-stage tasks requiring sophisticated reasoning and iterative planning, serving as the foundation for accelerating the implementation of Agentic AI" that will help them with "AI workflow automation, strengthen AI R&D, and in-game AI services" and so on. Another part of it starting in 2026 is that they're going to allocate around "KRW 30 billion annually" to support their employees to directly use AI tools with their work. This includes generally expanding the scope of how AI is used across the company to " apply AI throughout its entire management and decision-making processes". The original post in Korean can be seen on their press post. Not really a surprise for Krafton given they've been bullish about AI for a while now, while using it directly in inZOI for various things and the newer AI companions for PUBG too. So prepare for a lot more AI generation in games coming from Krafton as a publisher and from developers under their wing. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.