Unlocking the better Future

Dear readers,

I am sharing this piece inspired by the many discussions I’ve had on panels about the transformative power of open data. Often, I use the analogy of Gutenberg and the alphabet to illustrate the importance of shared resources in driving innovation. Imagine if Gutenberg, after inventing the printing press, had patented the alphabet itself, how much of humanity’s progress would have been delayed, or even lost entirely? How many publishers would have been established? How many books would have published? So why do we think, that monetization health data and AI is a good idea that brings us prosperity?

This thought experiment underscores the critical choice we face today: whether to enclose knowledge for the benefit of a few or to unlock its potential for the betterment of all. It’s a choice that will shape not just the future of healthcare, but the very fabric of human progress.

AI & The Alphabet to write our own future

Consider this: the foundation of human knowledge, the alphabet—exists not as a possession but as a shared resource. From its simplicity, the infinite complexity of human expression has emerged. Every book, every letter, every manifesto is an arrangement of the same finite set of symbols, freely accessible to all. Alongside it, numbers weave their way through the fabric of human understanding, enabling mathematics, science, and progress itself. These tools, letters and numbers are the universal scaffolding upon which civilizations have been built. And yet, they belong to no one. They belong to everyone.

Now imagine if the alphabet had been owned, locked behind barriers of exclusivity. What might humanity have lost? The freedom to write, to innovate, to connect ideas across cultures and ages? The richness of our shared experience would have been diminished, creativity stifled, progress slowed. Instead, these symbols became the tools of democratized expression, unleashing a boundless wave of human potential.

The innovations we see today, such as GPTs and large language models, already finding their way into nearly every hospital, emerged from this very principle. They were not born in isolation but were made possible because their creators had access to immense troves of free and open accessible data. Without this foundation of openness, these tools, now transforming how we understand and solve problems, would never have seen the light of day. It is a powerful reminder of the extraordinary potential unlocked when knowledge is treated as a shared resource.

Today, we stand at a similar crossroads, but in a realm far more complex: the realm of health data, artificial intelligence, and the discoveries they enable. Like the alphabet, these are not just resources; they are tools for creation, the building blocks of a new kind of literacy. They allow us to write new digital stories, not of fiction or philosophy, but of cures and innovations, solutions and progress. They are the foundation for crafting tools that solve humanity's greatest challenges.

But here’s the challenge: some seek to transform these tools into scarce commodities and intangible private assets, leveraging them not for collective benefit but for exclusive profit. In healthcare, the price of such assets often rises not due to scarcity but through a web of financial incentives, market dynamics, and regulatory frameworks that prioritize profitability over accessibility. As OpenAI's CFO recently noted, prices are increasingly being defined by perceived value rather than intrinsic costs—a perspective that I explored in my last newsletter.

They aim to enclose the commons of health data and the algorithms that bring it to life, locking them behind walls of exclusivity. This isn’t about giving everyone a free beer, as some might dismissively suggest. It’s about something far more profound: providing universal access to a new kind of alphabet, one that empowers everyone to write their own digital narratives, to innovate freely, and to craft solutions that reflect their unique needs. It’s about giving everyone the ability to brew their own beer, to participate in the creation of value rather than being relegated to passive consumption. It’s about fostering an ecosystem where the tools of production are abundant, accessible, and transformative, an ecosystem where value is created not through artificial scarcity, but through shared opportunity and collective ingenuity.

But let us pause and consider: what is the real cost of this hoarding? By locking away knowledge, they quietly shift wealth, not in money, but in opportunities, from the younger generation to the older. They take potential prosperity from those who will shape the future and concentrate it in the hands of those who have already had their share. They profit from data, data we all contributed to and paid for, data that should belong to everyone and was shared in the hope of finding cures and solutions for all.

This hoarding does not merely delay innovation; it distorts the moral fabric of progress and it's designed for inequality in access to health. It creates a world where access to life-saving knowledge becomes a privilege rather than a shared right, where diseases that could be cured linger on, and where the tools to build a better future are confined to the hands of a select few. This is not the inevitable cost of progress, it is a choice, one that sacrifices collective potential for the preservation of individual power. And in this choice, we see not the future unfolding, but opportunity slipping away.

Imagine a world where patents reflect not the exclusivity of accessing medical knowledge, but the exclusivity of your brand, of the unique experience you offer, the level of empathy and care you bring to those you serve. In this world, innovation thrives not through hoarding life saving knowledge for the selected few, but through elevating the human connection, creating value in the quality of engagement, and the authenticity of solutions. It is a world where progress is measured not by what is withheld, but by what is shared and how it is applied to transform lives.

Like the alphabet, health data and AI could transcend boundaries, becoming the universal scaffolding of a new era of innovation. But only if we choose to share them, not as guarded property or gatekept fortresses, but as open tools accessible to all, empowering collective progress. The decisions we make now will define whether this future comes to pass. Will we repeat the mistakes of the past, hoarding power and wealth at the expense of progress? Or will we embrace the profound truth that open systems, like open alphabets, unlock the boundless potential of humanity?

The choice is ours. Let us choose wisely. Let us create a future where everyone has the tools to write their own digital stories and to build, together, a healthier, more equitable world.