AOS Humanitarian License

Open source for peace. Closed forever to harm.

Version 1.0.1 — Effective February 1, 2026

🕊️

Humanitarian Use Only

This license grants permissions under the condition that the Software is used exclusively for peaceful civilian purposes and humanitarian benefit. These restrictions are PERMANENT and IRREVOCABLE in all derivatives, forks, and modifications.

What Makes This Different

🛡️

40 Prohibited Uses

Comprehensive protection against weapons, surveillance, exploitation, manipulation, and environmental harm. Not vague — explicitly enumerated.

⚔️

Absolute Military Ban

ALL military applications permanently prohibited — offensive AND defensive. No "national security" exception. No "defensive only" justification.

🔗

Mandatory Copyleft

All derivative works MUST include the exact same humanitarian restrictions. The protection spreads with the code — it can never be stripped out.

Prohibited Applications

40 explicitly prohibited categories across 8 domains. Any use in these categories immediately terminates the license.

⚔️ Violence & Security

• Autonomous weapon systems
• Lethal force decision-making
• Cyberattacks & exploit development
• Weapons targeting & guidance
• Human trafficking & exploitation

🏛️ Democracy & Society

• Mass surveillance infrastructure
• Disinformation & propaganda
• Election interference
• Social manipulation at scale
• Discriminatory decision systems

💼 Labor & Economy

• Labor exploitation systems
• Predatory financial exploitation
• Surveillance capitalism
• Automated firing without human review
• Economic destruction without worker support

🏥 Healthcare & Vulnerable

• Healthcare denial for profit
• Involuntary treatment systems
• Elder abuse or exploitation
• Child exploitation — ZERO TOLERANCE
• Disability exploitation

🔒 Privacy & Rights

• Privacy violation at scale
• Unauthorized data collection
• Biometric tracking without consent
• Location surveillance
• Communications interception

🌍 Environment & Safety

• Environmental destruction
• Climate change acceleration
• Pollution optimization
• Resource depletion systems
• Safety system circumvention

🧠 Manipulation & Control

• Addiction optimization
• Psychological manipulation
• Behavioral control systems
• Cult recruitment automation
• Radicalization engines

🚫 Additional Prohibitions

• Military AI (offensive or defensive)
• Pornography generation
• Terrorism planning or support
• Fraud and scam automation
• Any use causing measurable harm

Key License Terms

Grant of License

Permission is granted, free of charge, to use, copy, modify, distribute, and create derivative works of this Software — for peaceful civilian purposes only. Personal, academic, and research use is encouraged.

Patent Protection

This license grants rights to use the SOFTWARE CODE only. It does NOT grant rights under any AOS patents. Separate patent license required for commercial use of patented methods. Contact: commercial@aos-constitution.com

Attribution Required

All use must include clear attribution: Original Author: Gene Salvatore / AOS. Project URL: aos-constitution.com. License: AOS Humanitarian License v1.0.1.

Commercial Audit Requirements

Commercial users must maintain audit trails (3-year retention) and submit annual self-certification confirming no prohibited applications. Non-commercial, personal, academic, and research use is exempt from audit requirements.

Automatic Termination

License automatically terminates for any prohibited use, removal of humanitarian restrictions, or creation of derivatives without restrictions. First-time unintentional violations may receive a 30-day cure period. Intentional violations, CSAM, weapons use: immediate termination, no cure period.

Why a Humanitarian License?

MIT is not enough. Traditional open source licenses like MIT place no restrictions on use. That means the same code meant to empower people can be weaponized to harm them. We don't accept that tradeoff.

Freedom with responsibility. The AOS Humanitarian License preserves the spirit of open source — transparency, collaboration, community — while drawing a hard line against harm. You can read every line of code, fork it, improve it, deploy it. You just can't use it to hurt people.

Protection that propagates. Through mandatory copyleft, every derivative of AOS carries the same humanitarian protections. The safeguards spread with the code, creating an expanding ecosystem where AI serves humanity — never the other way around.

"Open source for peace. Closed forever to harm."— Gene Salvatore, Founder

Resources

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Constitution

Full governance framework

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Full License & Constitution

aos-constitution.com

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Licensing Questions

licensing@aos-constitution.com

AOS Humanitarian License v1.0.1 — Effective February 1, 2026