Entry 07 of 44
Access
accessus — a coming to, approach; accedere (to come near)
Latin
From Latin accessus, past participle of accedere: to come to, to approach. Root concept: the ability to reach and use something directly.
Established meaning
In civil rights and disability law: the right and ability to use a resource, facility, or opportunity directly. Meaningful access implies practical usability, not merely theoretical permission. Access without the ability to use is not access.
AI industry deployment
API access; access tiers (free, paid, enterprise); 'democratizing access' as a framing for commercial expansion. Access has been repurposed as a product category that can be sold at different price points.
Semantic gap
The right to reach
'Democratizing access' through a paid API is not democratization — it is market segmentation. The equity dimension of access has been replaced with its commercial structure.