Coding Agents Could Make Free Software Matter Again

The author argues that AI coding agents are about to resurrect the practical relevance of Stallman-era software freedom: if an agent can read, understand, and modify a codebase on your behalf, source code access becomes a real capability for non-programmers rather than a symbolic right. SaaS eroded software freedom by hiding code on vendor servers, but agents invert that dynamic — the difference between modifiable and locked software suddenly has teeth. The piece is a thoughtful opinion piece grounded in a concrete frustration with customizing a closed SaaS product via an AI agent.