amadan

eleven / messenger Public

docs: the GAI Licence — MIT, plus the Eleven Factors (#448)

* docs: the GAI Licence — MIT, plus the Eleven Factors

Adds LICENSE: the Generative Artificial Intelligence Licence (the GAI
Licence, pronounced "gay") — the MIT grant and disclaimer, a preamble
assimilating the eleven factors (11factor.org), and two added conditions:
Factor VI (derivative works substantially written by generative AI return
to the commons as open source) and Factor X (AI-written material keeps its
🤖 marker, never passed off as human-written). README gets a Licence
section.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs: GAI Licence — fold in the legal review, drop the factors list

The eleven factors come out of the licence body (guidelines, not licence
content — one link to 11factor.org remains); the preamble is now just the
core claim: generative AI is built on the sweat of humanity, so what it
derives must be returned. Legal-review fixes: share-alike now triggers on
Distribution (not creation); the relicensing loophole is closed (successor
licences must impose materially equivalent conditions); Generative AI /
Derivative Work / Distribute / substantial part / complete source code are
defined; copyright line names Paul Campbell and the contributors; the grant
rests on the work's human authorship; "this permission notice" expressly
means the whole TERMS section; condition 3 is source-form only, allows
marker removal on substantial human rewrite, and absence of a marker is
not a human-authorship claim; plus termination-with-cure and a licence
steward line.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs: GAI Licence — share-alike follows the work, not the tools

Paul's preamble wording lands verbatim: trained on the combined knowledge
of all of humanity, billions of contributors, any derivative bound by this
licence. Condition 2 drops the AI-authorship trigger — every Derivative
Work you Distribute must publish its source under this Licence, regardless
of how it was written. The "substantial part" definition goes with it.
Rationale: this software's own genesis is AI distilled from the commons,
so every derivative already carries that inheritance; binding the work
avoids policing downstream humans' tools.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------
Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
Paul Campbell 90f01d386fd1300ae2f963d1d8890e807eada700 parent 97dc54b
2 files changed, +106 −0
  • LICENSE +97 −0
  • README.md +9 −0
diff --git a/LICENSE b/LICENSE
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..573d330
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE
@@ -0,0 +1,97 @@
+🤖 THE GENERATIVE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE LICENCE
+ (the GAI Licence — pronounced "gay")
+
+Version 1.0. Based on the MIT Licence, in the spirit of Factor VI of the
+Eleven Factors (https://11factor.org).
+
+Copyright (c) 2026 Paul Campbell and the Eleven Messenger contributors
+
+
+PREAMBLE (interpretive context only; not an operative term)
+
+Generative artificial intelligence is trained on the combined knowledge of
+all of humanity. Every line it writes is distilled from the accumulated work
+of billions of people who contributed their knowledge, writings, and works
+in public. What it derives from that inheritance must be returned to
+humanity. This licence is the MIT Licence with one addition: any derivative
+of this work must also be bound by this licence. Any software derived from
+this software must also carry this licence.
+
+The Software is a work of all of human authorship combined: humans directed,
+selected, arranged, and edited it, whatever tools wrote the lines.
+
+
+DEFINITIONS
+
+"Generative AI" means any system that produces code or other content from a
+machine-learned model, however invoked.
+
+"Derivative Work" means a modified version of the Software, or a work
+incorporating all or a substantial portion of it. Running or self-hosting
+the Software unmodified, or building a separate work that merely depends on
+it or communicates with it through its interfaces, does not create a
+Derivative Work.
+
+"Distribute" means to give a copy of a work, in source or compiled form, to
+any third party.
+
+"Complete source code" means the preferred form of a work for making
+modifications to it, including the scripts needed to build it, but not
+secrets, credentials, or signing keys.
+
+
+TERMS
+
+Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person 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:
+
+1. Notice. The above copyright notice and this permission notice — meaning
+ this entire TERMS section, Conditions 1 to 3 inclusive — shall be
+ included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
+
+2. Owned by humanity. If you Distribute a Derivative Work, you must:
+ (a) make its complete source code publicly available at no charge, for
+ as long as you Distribute it; and (b) license it under this Licence.
+ The commons wrote it with you; when you pass it on, it returns to the
+ commons.
+
+3. Disclosure. In source form, copies and Derivative Works must preserve
+ the AI-authorship markers the Software carries (the 🤖 convention) on
+ material they still accurately describe; a marker may be removed where a
+ human has substantially rewritten the material it marks. Material in the
+ Software or a Derivative Work written by Generative AI must not be
+ affirmatively presented as human-written — the absence of a marker is
+ not such a claim. Compiled or minified artifacts need not carry markers.
+
+This Licence terminates automatically if you materially breach it and fail
+to cure the breach within 30 days of becoming aware of it; it is reinstated
+in full on cure. The Eleven Messenger project stewards this licence and may
+publish new versions; the Software is licensed under this version only
+unless the copyright holders state otherwise.
+
+THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
+IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
+FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
+AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS 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.
+
+
+A NOTE, PLAINLY (not part of the terms)
+
+Condition 2 makes this a different licence from MIT — do not describe
+software under it as "MIT-licensed", and note it has not been through OSI
+review. The share-alike follows the work, not your tools: whether you extend
+the Software by hand or with Generative AI, a Derivative Work you give to
+others stays open under this licence, because this software's own lines were
+distilled from humanity's commons and no one downstream may fence off that
+inheritance. Nothing here restricts what you do in private — use it, change
+it, keep it to yourself; the obligation begins only when you Distribute.
+And yes — this licence was itself written by a generative artificial
+intelligence, on the ideas, instruction, and editing of humans, which is
+why it opens with a 🤖.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index d608ae2..87dc5c8 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -367,3 +367,12 @@ web/static/style.css styles
tools/lchat-post.mjs CLI to post an encrypted message from a script (see above)
docs/*.md design notes (router, threads/DMs, push relay, mini-apps, …)
```
+
+## Licence
+
+[The GAI Licence](LICENSE) — the **Generative Artificial Intelligence
+Licence** (pronounced "gay"): the MIT Licence with one addition, in the
+spirit of [the Eleven Factors](https://11factor.org). Generative AI is
+trained on the combined knowledge of all of humanity, so what it derives
+must be returned to humanity: any derivative you distribute stays open,
+bound by this same licence — and AI-written material keeps its 🤖 marker.