[License-discuss] [SUBMISSION] AI-MIT License 1.0 — permissive license for AI-generated code

Fri Mar 13 15:45:21 UTC 2026

Hi, exactly, AI-MIT is an independent new license that is inspired by MIT's
structure and philosophy.

Sorry I forgot to attach text in the first message.

Nik

пт, 13 мар. 2026 г. в 16:19, Simon Phipps <simon at webmink.net>:

> Independently of any evaluation of the license itself (it was not attached
> to the request), I am concerned that the use of "MIT" in the proposed
> license name implies an association with Massachusetts Institute of
> Technology. As far as I can see the only association is the assertion that
> this license continues the spirit of the existing license under that name,
> which used the name validly.
>
> Respectfully
>
> Simon
> (in a personal capacity)
>
> On Fri, Mar 13, 2026 at 1:56 PM Nik <nik.sharky at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Dear OSI License Review Committee,
>>
>> I am submitting the **AI-MIT License, Version 1.0** for consideration by
>> the Open Source Initiative.
>>
>> ## Summary
>>
>> The AI-MIT License is a permissive open-source license designed to
>> address a genuine gap: existing licenses were written for human authors and
>> handle AI-generated code poorly, creating false implications about
>> authorship and copyright status.
>>
>> The license is deliberately minimal — it preserves the structure and
>> permissiveness of the MIT License while adding three targeted changes for
>> the AI context.
>>
>> ## The problem it solves
>>
>> 1. **False authorship implication.** When `Copyright (c) [year] [author]`
>> is applied to fully AI-generated code, it implies human authorship and
>> copyright that may not legally exist in most jurisdictions.
>>
>> 2. **No standard for disclosure.** There is no widely adopted mechanism
>> for disclosing whether code is AI-generated, AI-assisted, or
>> human-authored. This matters for supply-chain security, regulatory
>> compliance (EU AI Act), and intellectual honesty in open source.
>>
>> 3. **Undefined copyright status.** Fully autonomous AI-generated code (no
>> human creative input) is in a legal grey zone in most jurisdictions. A
>> license that claims copyright over it is at best misleading, at worst
>> invalid.
>>
>> ## What the license does differently from MIT
>>
>> The license adds one structural element (the Authorship Declaration) and
>> three conditions/clauses:
>>
>> **Authorship Declaration** — a required checkbox at the top of the
>> LICENSE file with three modes:
>> - *Fully AI-generated*: no copyright claimed; code dedicated to public
>> domain
>> - *AI-assisted*: human-directed, AI-generated; standard copyright applies
>> - *Human-authored*: AI used as a tool only; identical to MIT posture
>>
>> **Condition 2 — Transparency**: redistribution or use as AI training data
>> must not misrepresent AI origin as human authorship.
>>
>> **Condition 3 — No Copyright Claim**: for fully autonomous code, explicit
>> public domain dedication (with a perpetual irrevocable fallback for
>> jurisdictions where public domain dedication is impossible).
>>
>> **Extended disclaimer**: adds three AI-specific disclaimers about
>> training data provenance, regulatory compliance, and jurisdictional
>> limitations of the authorship declaration.
>>
>> ## OSD compliance analysis
>>
>> 1. **Free Redistribution** ✓ — no restriction on sale or distribution
>> 2. **Source Code** ✓ — no source restriction
>> 3. **Derived Works** ✓ — modification and redistribution permitted
>> 4. **Integrity of the Author's Source Code** ✓ — no patch-file
>> requirement; attribution preserved
>> 5. **No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups** ✓
>> 6. **No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor** ✓
>> 7. **Distribution of License** ✓ — same rights apply to all recipients
>> 8. **License Must Not Be Specific to a Product** ✓
>> 9. **License Must Not Restrict Other Software** ✓
>> 10. **License Must Be Technology-Neutral** ✓
>>
>> The Transparency condition (Condition 2) requires disclosure of AI origin
>> but does not restrict use in any field — it is an attribution/honesty
>> requirement, not a field-of-endeavor restriction.
>>
>> ## SPDX identifier
>>
>> We are concurrently requesting the SPDX identifier `AI-MIT-1.0` through
>> the SPDX GitHub repository.
>>
>> ## Repository
>>
>> The full license text, README, translations, and supporting materials are
>> available at:
>> https://github.com/ai-mit-license/ai-mit-license
>>
>> ## A note on meta-context
>>
>> This license was initially drafted with AI assistance (Claude, Anthropic)
>> at the direction of a human. We believe this is appropriate and have
>> disclosed it in the repository. The license is itself an example of the
>> category of work it governs.
>>
>> We welcome feedback from the committee and the community at large.
>>
>> Respectfully,
>> Nik
>> _______________________________________________
>> The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not
>> necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Official statements by the
>> Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email address.
>>
>> License-discuss mailing list
>> License-discuss at lists.opensource.org
>>
>> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org
>>
> _______________________________________________
> The opinions expressed in this email are those of the sender and not
> necessarily those of the Open Source Initiative. Official statements by the
> Open Source Initiative will be sent from an opensource.org email address.
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AI-MIT License
Version 1.0, 2026
https://github.com/ai-mit-license/ai-mit-license

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

AUTHORSHIP DECLARATION
(Distributor must check one and fill in details)

  [ ] Fully AI-generated   — no human creative input; no copyright claimed
  [ ] AI-assisted          — human-directed, AI-generated output
  [ ] Human-authored       — AI used only as a tool (e.g. autocomplete)

  Originator : [Name, organization, or "AI Agent / <system name>"]
  AI Tool(s) : [e.g. Claude Sonnet 4 (Anthropic), GPT-4o (OpenAI)]
  Year       : [YYYY]
  Repository : [URL or N/A]

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

GRANT OF RIGHTS

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person or
system obtaining a copy of this software and associated
documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software
without restriction, including without limitation the rights to
use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense,
and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to
whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the
following conditions.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

CONDITIONS

1. ATTRIBUTION
   The above Authorship Declaration, this conditions notice,
   and the AI-MIT License version tag must be included in all
   copies or substantial portions of the Software.

2. TRANSPARENCY
   If the Software is redistributed or used as input for further
   AI training, the AI origin of the code must not be
   misrepresented as purely human-authored work.

3. NO COPYRIGHT CLAIM (Fully AI-generated only)
   When the "Fully AI-generated" box is checked, the Originator
   makes no copyright claim over the Software. The Software is
   dedicated to the public domain to the maximum extent
   permitted by applicable law. Where public domain dedication
   is not legally possible, the Originator grants a perpetual,
   irrevocable, royalty-free license to all parties for any
   purpose.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

DISCLAIMERS

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND,
EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY
APPLICABLE LAW, THE ORIGINATOR EXPRESSLY DISCLAIMS THAT:

  (a) the Software is free of third-party intellectual property
      that may have been embedded through AI training data;

  (b) the Software meets the requirements of any law,
      regulation, or framework governing AI-generated outputs
      (including but not limited to the EU AI Act, US Executive
      Orders on AI, or sector-specific regulations);

  (c) the Authorship Declaration above is legally sufficient
      to establish, transfer, or disclaim rights in any specific
      jurisdiction — users are advised to seek independent legal
      counsel for high-stakes deployments.

IN NO EVENT SHALL THE ORIGINATOR BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM,
DAMAGES, OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT,
TORT, OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF, OR IN CONNECTION WITH
THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.

────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

SPDX-License-Identifier: AI-MIT-1.0