The Impact of Technology & Politics on Knowledge Ownership: A Cross-Industry Discussion

"As we celebrate Open Access Week 2025, we find ourselves in unprecedented times, with political and technological upheaval reshaping scholarly communications daily. Libraries, institutions, funders, publishers, researchers—and even the public—are grappling with AI-generated content, mis- and disinformation, evolving open science mandates, and the weaponization of the open access movement itself.

This webinar, moderated by Sara Rouhi, Director of Open Science and Publishing Innovation at AIP Publishing, brings together stakeholders from across scholarly publishing to explore the critical question: Who owns our knowledge? As knowledge sources become increasingly unknowable (LLMs), veracity and relevance more difficult to assess (open science best practices), and large commercial players continue to dominate the distribution of publicly funded research, the question of trust becomes central. Who—and what—do we trust? What should trust indicators look like? What are the responsibilities of knowledge producers versus knowledge consumers? And is there collective action we can take to ensure ownership of knowledge remains closest to the communities that need it most?"