Re: [SUBMISSION] AI-MIT License 1 .0 — permissive license for AI-generated code

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Nik:

Are you requesting approval of this license by OSI, or just discussion 
of the license? You've submitted to the license-discuss list, which is 
where licenses are discussed, but does not result in the license being 
put through the approval process. Your statement that you are 
"submitting" the license "for consideration" is ambiguous.

If you are seeking approval, you need to use the correct mailing list 
and provide all the data required for a submission, which has not been 
done in your e-mail below.

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
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
> [email protected]
> http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org
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    <p>Nik:</p>
    <p>Are you requesting approval of this license by OSI, or just
      discussion of the license? You've submitted to the license-discuss
      list, which is where licenses are discussed, but does not result
      in the license being put through the approval process. Your
      statement that you are "submitting" the license "for
      consideration" is ambiguous.</p>
    <p>If you are seeking approval, you need to use the correct mailing
      list and provide all the data required for a submission, which has
      not been done in your e-mail below.</p>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 3/12/2026 4:20 AM, Nik wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CALoGuP2xLo_YCyvotEbbi9GDReMWZz-QPTfvhbDRx-L0ffZq-A@mail.gmail.com">
      <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8">
      <div dir="ltr">Dear OSI License Review Committee,<br>
        <br>
        I am submitting the **AI-MIT License, Version 1.0** for
        consideration by the Open Source Initiative.<br>
        <br>
        ## Summary<br>
        <br>
        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.<br>
        <br>
        The license is deliberately minimal — it preserves the structure
        and permissiveness of the MIT License while adding three
        targeted changes for the AI context.<br>
        <br>
        ## The problem it solves<br>
        <br>
        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.<br>
        <br>
        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.<br>
        <br>
        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.<br>
        <br>
        ## What the license does differently from MIT<br>
        <br>
        The license adds one structural element (the Authorship
        Declaration) and three conditions/clauses:<br>
        <br>
        **Authorship Declaration** — a required checkbox at the top of
        the LICENSE file with three modes:<br>
        - *Fully AI-generated*: no copyright claimed; code dedicated to
        public domain<br>
        - *AI-assisted*: human-directed, AI-generated; standard
        copyright applies<br>
        - *Human-authored*: AI used as a tool only; identical to MIT
        posture<br>
        <br>
        **Condition 2 — Transparency**: redistribution or use as AI
        training data must not misrepresent AI origin as human
        authorship.<br>
        <br>
        **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).<br>
        <br>
        **Extended disclaimer**: adds three AI-specific disclaimers
        about training data provenance, regulatory compliance, and
        jurisdictional limitations of the authorship declaration.<br>
        <br>
        ## OSD compliance analysis<br>
        <br>
        1. **Free Redistribution** ✓ — no restriction on sale or
        distribution<br>
        2. **Source Code** ✓ — no source restriction<br>
        3. **Derived Works** ✓ — modification and redistribution
        permitted<br>
        4. **Integrity of the Author's Source Code** ✓ — no patch-file
        requirement; attribution preserved<br>
        5. **No Discrimination Against Persons or Groups** ✓<br>
        6. **No Discrimination Against Fields of Endeavor** ✓<br>
        7. **Distribution of License** ✓ — same rights apply to all
        recipients<br>
        8. **License Must Not Be Specific to a Product** ✓<br>
        9. **License Must Not Restrict Other Software** ✓<br>
        10. **License Must Be Technology-Neutral** ✓<br>
        <br>
        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.<br>
        <br>
        ## SPDX identifier
        <div><br>
          We are concurrently requesting the SPDX identifier
          `AI-MIT-1.0` through the SPDX GitHub repository.<br>
          <br>
          ## Repository</div>
        <div><br>
          The full license text, README, translations, and supporting
          materials are available at:  <br>
          <a href="https://github.com/ai-mit-license/ai-mit-license"
            target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
            class="moz-txt-link-freetext">https://github.com/ai-mit-license/ai-mit-license</a><br>
          <br>
          ## A note on meta-context</div>
        <div><br>
          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.<br>
          <br>
          We welcome feedback from the committee and the community at
          large.<br>
          <br>
          Respectfully,  <font color="#888888"><font color="#888888"><br>
              Nik  </font></font></div>
      </div>
      <br>
      <fieldset class="moz-mime-attachment-header"></fieldset>
      <pre wrap="" class="moz-quote-pre">_______________________________________________
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
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:[email protected]">[email protected]</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org">http://lists.opensource.org/mailman/listinfo/license-discuss_lists.opensource.org</a>
</pre>
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