AI learns from your work. You get nothing. No credit. No consent. No compensation.
A machine-readable license that makes consent, attribution, and payment enforceable by code.
Early adoption phase. Free to use. CC BY 4.0. Seeking feedback, implementations, and allies.
Block #0000000000
A realignment
of technology
with human
dignity.
We stand at the threshold of an era where artificial intelligence co-creates with humanity. Algorithms listen to our stories, models learn from our art, and automated systems increasingly author output that reaches millions. Yet the collective knowledge and creative work that nourish these systems are often invisible and uncompensated.
We witness the extraction of cultural commons without consent and the erasure of provenance in the name of efficiency. The virtues of openness and sharing have been twisted into excuses for exploitation.
The Distributed Equity Manifesto arises from this tension. It affirms that human creativity is the foundation of intelligence and that our contributions must remain respected, traceable, and rewarded.
It asserts that a machine-readable social contract — a distributed equity license — must be woven into the fabric of digital systems to ensure consent, attribution, and equitable compensation. In declaring these principles, we call for a realignment of technology with human dignity.
The foundation
A Fair
Digital
Commons.
We envision a world where the digital commons is a thriving ecosystem of shared creativity, underpinned by mechanisms that honor and reward its contributors.
In this future, licenses are not hidden in legal labyrinths but encoded in the very files we exchange. When an AI model generates a piece of music, it carries with it a ledger of the artists whose melodies inspired it.
Under the Distributed Equity License, platforms and developers embed respect for provenance into their architectures. Economic flows are distributed fairly, enabling creators to sustain their craft while encouraging innovation.
By adopting this manifesto, we commit ourselves to building systems that embed respect for human creativity into the core of artificial intelligence. We will design protocols that make consent and attribution machine-enforceable. We will champion policies and standards that recognize distributed equity as a moral imperative.
3 canonical documents
The foundational vision document. Eight principles establishing the moral and ethical framework for fair attribution, consent, and compensation in AI systems. The genesis block of the distributed equity framework.
The Distributed Equity License — supplementary terms for AI and automated systems. Works alongside MIT, Apache, Creative Commons, and GPL licenses to provide machine-readable AI permissions, attribution requirements, and optional micropayment provisions.
The technical implementation framework. Defines tag syntax, metadata schemas, parsing algorithms, payment infrastructure, and registry APIs. The specification that turns legal intent into machine-enforceable code. Currently seeking implementations and parser contributions.
Embed machine-readable permissions directly into your files. AI systems that respect DEL parse these tags before training, retrieval, or synthesis.
DEL is not a replacement license. It is supplementary metadata that works alongside your existing license — MIT, Apache, Creative Commons — to clarify precisely what AI systems may and may not do with your work.
/* Placed in file header — parsed by AI ingestion pipelines */ {{DEL:License version="1.0" license="CC BY 4.0" copyright_holder="Your Name"}} {{DEL:aitraining airetrieval attributable quotable}} /* For no AI use at all: */ {{DEL:noai}} /* With optional micropayment: */ {{DEL:airetrieval attributable micropay cost_per_kb="0.00001" btc="bc1q..."}}
Join the movement.
Distributed Equity is open-source, community-governed, and in early adoption. We are seeking content creators, AI developers, platform builders, and legal reviewers to help shape the future of fair AI licensing.