Human-Content-to-Machine-Data_Final - Flipbook - Page 27
Ecosystem Contribution: You must provide monetary or in-kind support back to
the ecosystem from which you are beneûting, based on a good faith valuation
taking into account your use of the assets and your ûnancial means.
This is designed to spur contributions that support the commons as a whole. While the initial
phrasing is very open-ended, we hope and expect that norms, best practices, and even new,
collective-minded structures could grow around this notion in different sectors and for
different types of reuses. The aim is to encourage a practice of giving back, infusing a norm of
reciprocity in ways that will help sustain the ecosystem for all.
Open: The AI system used must be open. For example, AI systems must satisfy the
Model Openness Framework (MOF) Class II, MOF Class I, or the Open Source AI
Deûnition (OSAID).
This signal element reüects the fact that making AI models open—by releasing model weights,
code, or datasets for others to use and build on—is a form of reciprocity.97 Given the progress
made by others in the ûeld to provide meaningful deûnitions of openness, our proposal for
this signal is more speciûc about what is required to adhere to it.
For the sake of simplicity, we have proposed four particular combinations of signal elements
that would serve as the suite of CC signals. The proposed suite of CC signals are:
Credit
Credit + Direct Contribution
Credit + Ecosystem Contribution
Credit + Open
Credit is included as an element in each signal because we believe it is a fundamental form of
reciprocity; one that beneûts the broader knowledge cycle. In this initial proposal, the other
signals are mutually exclusive. The list of signals is intentionally limited so that stewards of
large collections and their communities can align in calling for their adoption with AI
developers. This will ultimately help to build the collective action needed to drive reciprocity
within the AI ecosystem.
97
Tumadóttir, A. (2025, April 2). Reciprocity in the Age of AI. Creative Commons.
https://creativecommons.org/2025/04/02/reciprocity-in-the-age-of-ai/
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