There is no award for the most appropriate acronym coined each year, but if there were, SAIL might scoop the accolade within this 12-month. The Shared AI License Foundation (SAIL) has been formed as a result of efforts by IBM and others to create a collaborative patent network for AI foundation models.
The group’s mission statement explains that SAIL promotes the “growth and development of AI foundation models” by granting mutual patent licenses among participating companies.
Its members have coalesced around a belief that this formalization will create a route to efficient access to key patents, reduce licensing complexity, encourage innovation, and ensure resources remain focused on research and development rather than “legal friction” – a term that (as will be explained) is loaded with meaning and context.
Founding Fathers & Females
The founding board members include Anthropic, Genentech (a Roche Group biotechnology medicine specialist), IBM, Meta and Microsoft. Board observers (organizations, people or entities that attend meetings to gain insight without having a formal vote) in this group include eBay and TD Bank Group. Block (digital payments technology) and Figma (cloud-based UI prototyping) are also members.
SAIL aims to facilitate AI patent rights for its members through shared access to key patents to accelerate the development of foundational AI technologies.
AI Patents, Up 2000%
Clearly, right now, we’re seeing AI-related patent filings surge. Estimates from Cipher’s analysis (part of LexisNexis) of worldwide machine learning patent filings suggest that the increase is over 2000% in the last ten years.
The Foundation says that the rise in patent activity, compounded by the complexity of the modern AI stack, risks increasing costs and diverting resources away from research and development, creating hurdles to bringing innovation to the marketplace.
The Foundation addresses this challenge by creating a shared patent commons that provides freedom of action for SAIL members to invest in technologies that infuse AI models.
Unprecedented Societal & Economic Progress
“The AI industry is at a critical inflection point, poised to drive unprecedented societal and economic progress for everyone,” Jeremiah Chan, director and associate general counsel at Meta Platforms.
Chan says that the group here believes the progress seen in AI should not be impeded by what he calls “abusive patent assertions” that seek to monetize intellectual property at the expense of the entire ecosystem’s potential.
What exactly is the problem with these so-called abusive patent assertions, then? It’s a term that’s been around for a while, and it comes down to the presence of patent trolls.
Here There Be Patent Trolls
The problem is that AI patents may be affected by patent trolls (entities that don’t build products) using broad, vague AI-related patents to extort settlements. By threatening expensive litigation against innovators, they drain R&D budgets, stifle competition and create legal uncertainty that slows the development of beneficial new technologies.
Also known as Non-Practicing Entities (NPEs), patent trolls acquire vague patents solely to sue productive companies for infringement. This “litigation extortion” drains billions from potential markets and burdens startups with massive legal costs. Instead of creating products, they exploit the legal system for settlements, acting as a tax on progress.
“As a longstanding, leading AI developer and originator of Lab-in-the-Loop, Genentech is thrilled to co-launch SAIL. Sharing foundation model IP can scale end-to-end AI development and integration, which is what patients urgently need. SAIL continues our 50-year legacy of contributing cutting-edge work to the scientific community, so help can reach patients sooner,” said Rich Bonneau, VP and global head of AI for drug discovery at Genentech.
It’s not 2010 anymore
Professor Amanda Brock is CEO of OpenUK, a body that exists to champion open platforms, datasets, models and developer toolsets at all levels. Brock says she’s seen a level of enterprise reticence around the adoption of AI that meets the standards of open source (i.e., it’s made available on open source-compliant licences like MIT or Apache 2.0) that’s reminiscent of open source 15 years ago, before the GitHub effect kicked in and software that was open source bypassed the gatekeepers in risk.
“One of the good hygienes of open source software governance is the Open Invention Network (OIN) defensive patent pool, which supports a ‘no fly zone’ for patent litigation in open source. IBM was one of the six founders of OIN, and it’s no surprise to see it at the heart of a similar activity for AI. OIN grew to become the biggest defensive IP organisation in history and this approach will certainly be beneficial as openness grows in AI,” said Brock.
She reminds us that we do have to question why these organizations felt the need to set up a new organization rather than extend OIN and benefit from its existing membership. She could hazard a guess that a shiny new AI team felt necessary and would also hazard a guess that, over time, OIN will become the go-to in the patent space for AI as well as open source software.
“It’s just logical that it will,” said Brock. “The high price tag is also inhibiting and will likely keep SAIL a primarily U.S.-focused initiative. OIN was free for over 25 years, enabling scale to be built. Protecting the small guy in patent litigation matters not only for those entities but also for larger companies that simply want to avoid bad decision-making.”
Bolstering Better Breakthroughs
The initial purpose of the SAIL Foundation is to enable innovation based on the core foundation models of AI. With this protection in place, we believe that breakthroughs in software applications, hardware and domain-specific models will be enhanced.
Membership applications are open to any entity willing to enter into the agreement and comply with its terms. However, entities subject to specified U.S. government restricted party lists, for example, are ineligible.
Participation is $25,000 per year, but discounts may be available for early-stage companies.
