This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Fernando Paladini
Humanity's growth over the last 200 years is undeniable, with advancements that have brought wealth and comfort to countless lives. However, this progress comes hand-in-hand with a growing problem: inequality. The gap between the richest and the poorest widens every day, and the global economic balance tilts further, concentrating power and privilege in the hands of a minority, the 1%. The vast majority, the 99%, are caught in a relentless race for resources and opportunities.
Facing this, many turn to radical solutions, but I believe true change comes from within the system itself. My vision is to use the system's own tools against it. Not to destroy it, but to reshape it into something more just and accessible. The goal is clear: to make life difficult for the powerful and easier for those who need it most.
Inequality manifests at every level of our society. It begins with access to basics - water, food, health - and extends to knowledge, our most precious asset. Technology, which should be a force for progress and democratization, has become a new battlefield where knowledge is commoditized. Tech giants like Microsoft, Google, Meta, Anthropic, and OpenAI dominate the development of cutting-edge AI models and solutions. Tools like GitHub Copilot, which boost developer productivity, are becoming privileges for those who can afford them.
The costs of using AI services worldwide continue to rise, creating a glaring situation of digital inequality in access to information, tools, and technology. Professionals and developers globally face a stark disparity in the cost of accessing the internet and AI services. One dollar in the United States is not the same as one dollar in Brazil, the Congo, South Africa, India, or Pakistan.
And this is the core of this manifesto. Technology, especially AI, must be a common good available to every citizen on the planet, not a commodity.
The FOSSAI Vision
FOSSAI - Free and Open Source Artificial Intelligence - is our answer. It is a call to action for all hackers, developers, and tech thinkers: use your privilege and resources to build a more equitable future.
While we have access to cutting-edge tools through our personal, student, or work accounts, we must channel our energy to create open-source, free, user-friendly, and locally-run AI technologies. The reasons are simple and clear:
Open-Source: So that everyone can audit, understand, and contribute. Knowledge cannot be proprietary. We won't reinvent the wheel; we will share what we create.
Free: So that access is not a barrier. Knowledge must be free.
Local: So that autonomy is in the user's hands. Our creations should not depend on paid services or the cloud, which often force us to surrender our data in exchange for use, or to pay for resources.
I believe in a world where AI is used to create products that offer an incredible experience without the need for a constant internet connection, subscription plans, or any chains to corporations, institutions, or governments. In a world where dependency on recurring digital services is the rule, this attitude is an act of resistance. It's a path to free ourselves from the control of corporations that use technology to separate us from each other and consolidate power.
A Call to Action
I dream of a world where it isn't necessary to pay for essential services. I dream of a world where I have total control over the applications I use and the equipment I own. I dream of a world where AI isn't a sea of subscription plans, and where if you don't have money, you don't lose access to technology.
And this dream becomes a reality with every shared line of code, every free AI tool, and every solution we put into practice.
What can you do to change the scales?
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by Fernando Paladini
Fernando Paladini | Sciencx (2025-08-27T02:44:26+00:00) FOSSAI: An Open-Source Manifesto Against Digital Inequality — v0.1. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/08/27/fossai-an-open-source-manifesto-against-digital-inequality-v0-1/
Please log in to upload a file.
There are no updates yet.
Click the Upload button above to add an update.