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

[McCoy Smith]

Nik:

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On 3/12/2026 4:20 AM, Nik 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
>
> _______________________________________________
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