Exo Project Status

[KodeMunkie]

There have been nearly no commits or comments on the tickets in a while, can you give us an update on the project status please?

Thanks in advance.

[KodeMunkie]

Lead dev's Github profile doesn't look hopeful. Hope they're ok.

[jshnjovu]

I agree with your concern, [@KodeMunkie](https://github.com/KodeMunkie). Has anyone heard from [Alex Cheema](https://github.com/USERNAME) (last active May 10th)? The significance of Exo lies in its potential to redefine AI through three pillars: 1. **Decentralization**: No single entity controls compute power or models. 2. **Democratization**: Access is not gatekept by wealth or corporate approval. 3. **Privacy**: Data remains local, dismantling surveillance capitalism’s infrastructure. If Exo Labs (and similar tools) succeed, they could disrupt the AI oligopoly—this is Big Tech’s worst nightmare. Recall how they had a go at Deepseek; this was day 7 [Read more](https://blog.exolabs.net/day-7/).  Just sharing my perspective.

…

--- *Joshua Njovu* AI/ML Architect | Open Source Senior Software Engineer +254 751 098722 | +27 82 4129520 [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/njovu-joshua/) | [StackOverflow](https://stackoverflow.com/users/3384760/joash)

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On Sat, Apr 19, 2025 at 12:09 AM, @KodeMunkie wrote: Lead dev's GitHub profile doesn't look hopeful. Hope they're ok. 

[smithcoin]

@KodeMunkie please see: #825. Contributions are welcome.

[Hedda]

No Exo updates on the official EXO Labs website/blog either?

• https://exolabs.net

  • https://blog.exolabs.net

Not sure if anyone heard more via Discord or social media?

• https://discord.gg/EUnjGpsmWw

• https://x.com/exolabs

• https://t.me/+Kh-KqHTzFYg3MGNk

@AlexCheema looks to still be posting new EXO Labs related posts on Linkedin as well as on his personal Twitter (X) account:

• https://www.linkedin.com/company/exolabsai/

  • https://www.linkedin.com/posts/exolabsai_last-week-at-iclr-2025-in-singapore-our-activity-7325267026963292161-oW04

    • https://www.linkedin.com/posts/alex-cheema_last-week-at-iclr-2025-in-singapore-our-activity-7325318752936370176-ThWe

      • https://openreview.net/forum?id=stFPf3gzq1

    • https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-cheema/

• https://x.com/alexocheema

  • https://x.com/alexocheema/status/1935792086978379903

PS: To paraphrase Alex Cheema's old post on the EXO Labs account on Twitter (X) I really hope that the future is still open-source:

• https://x.com/exolabs

[nynj]

@AlexCheema looks to still be posting new EXO Labs related posts on Linkedin:

Could be automated. Yeah, I'm hoping they're OK and this project isn't abandoned, has a lot of potential. If so, maybe @smithcoin would be pick it up with a fork

[Nurb4000]

I think the consensus is this is over.

[KodeMunkie]

@smithcoin Looks like yours is the main fork now, this is Alex's profile recently:

[thebetauser]

Shame this project died off, had to much potential.

[jshnjovu]

Two Scenarios

1. Big industry players could not allow it to move forward.
2. It went private with this version as the last open source.

The best we can do is to keep it alive. There is a new repository.

[chtaihei-ust-hk]

Seems they are rebuilding the whole project: source

exo v2 pending…
completely rebuilt from the ground up using event sourcing design principles; scalable, reliable and future-proof.
looking forward to showing everyone what we’ve been working on!!

[Hedda]

Seems they are rebuilding the whole project: source

That makes we wonder if that new project still still be open-source licensed under the same GPL-3.0 license? Suspicions were that they went into stealth mode because mergers and acquisitions or something and if so the risk is they want to change the license.

• https://blueoakcouncil.org/mergers-and-acquisitions

Another common reason why companies go into stealth mode is right before they announce an IPO (Initial Public Offering)

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Initial_public_offering

Anyway, hoping that @AlexCheema or @MattBeton might comment on that here as well.

PS: Can see in @MattBeton profile on GitHub that he is still activly working in the repo for EXO Gym:

• https://github.com/exo-explore/gym

[Nurb4000]

That makes we wonder if that new project still still be open-source licensed under the same GPL-3.0 license? Suspicions were that they went silent because they where being bought or something and risk is then that they want to change the license.

I still get the feeling that they used the community for free to work on their commercial product. Its happening more and more out there. Get free bug testing, code contributions. Then when its up and running, vanish and bring it in-house.

[risingsunomi]

After months of not hearing about closing my PR139 and how things are now, I have also started a hard fork but focused on using just pytorch. Solo dev project but doing more updates as I can.

https://github.com/shamantechnology/xotorch