Sharism vs. Patents: A Paradigm Shift Against Technological Monopolies

At the heart of the digital transformation driven by artificial intelligence, Sharism stands in opposition to the traditional logic of patents as tools of closure, defense, and monopoly. — and promotes open knowledge sharing as a driver of inclusive and sustainable progress.

Patents: From Protection to Systemic Obstacle

While originally designed to protect innovation, patents have increasingly become barriers to access and tools for corporate warfare. In strategic sectors like AI, public health, and green energy, this system has often produced harmful societal outcomes:

• Life-saving medicines: During the COVID-19 pandemic, patent restrictions delayed vaccine access in low-income countries, deepening global health inequalities.
• Generative AI: Major platforms operate in a locked ecosystem of patents and closed models, limiting fair competition and local innovation.
• Green technologies: Crucial environmental solutions remain in the hands of a few, slowing down the global ecological transition.

Sharism: Toward an Inclusive and Distributed Innovation Model

Sharism reimagines innovation as a collaborative ecosystem where knowledge is circulated rather than hoarded. Inspired by open-source culture and the commons movement, it recognizes knowledge as a shared resource to be improved collectively.

This doesn’t mean rejecting intellectual property or fair compensation — it means balancing access and incentive in a world that desperately needs faster, fairer innovation.

Building a New Framework

A Sharist approach calls for concrete changes, such as:

• Open licensing models that prioritize social benefit.
• Public or fiscal incentives for companies releasing critical knowledge into open access.
• Government funding for “no-patent” initiatives in AI, health, and sustainability.
• Creation of global open solution repositories, verifiable and evolvable by the community.

The AI Monopolism Risk

As AI integrates into every aspect of life, control over datasets, language models, and patented algorithms threatens to form a new kind of digital oligarchy. This centralization can exacerbate algorithmic bias, mass surveillance, and technological unemployment.

Movements like Open Future and projects such as EleutherAI promote Sharism in AI — one of the few viable paths to democratize intelligence and return agency to communities and individuals.

We are at a crossroads. The choice is between a world where innovation is a privilege guarded by a few, or one where knowledge is shared to benefit all. Sharism isn’t a utopian dream — it’s a strategic necessity to ensure that technology serves humanity, not just the markets.

More information about Sharism https://sharism.wiki or https://sharism.one