Governance

How we govern public-interest AI infrastructure.

Governance is how the foundation makes the calls that matter in practice — what to publish, what to withhold, what to certify, what to standardize, and how to be answerable for any of it.

Operating principles

The principles that govern how we research, decide, and publish.

01 · Open by default, closed by exception
Research, code, weights, datasets, evaluations, and governance artifacts default to open. Any decision to withhold is published with its rationale, its scope, and the conditions under which it will be revisited.
02 · Independent evaluation
Systems we publish are evaluated by people and processes outside the team that built them. We do not certify our own safety, and we do not allow sponsors to certify theirs through us.
03 · Release decisions are governance decisions
What to release, when, and under what license is decided through the governance process — not by individual maintainers or sponsors. Release reviews are documented and reviewable.
04 · Standards over verdicts
Where we have a position on safety, interoperability, or accessibility, we publish it as a specification or standard the community can adopt, contest, and improve — not as a verdict on individual systems.
05 · Working in the open
Working groups operate with published charters, public minutes, and open participation. Closed sessions are minuted and the reasons for closure are recorded in public.
06 · Independent of sponsors
Sponsors fund the mission; they do not direct research, publications, or standards positions. Material conflicts are disclosed, recused on, and recorded.
07 · Public benefit, measurable
Inclusivity, accessibility, and reach are measured — by languages covered, communities consulted, and access achieved — and reported alongside the work, not after it.

Structure

How authority is held and exercised.

The foundation is governed by an elected membership and a board. The membership ratifies the mission, approves the annual research and standards agenda, and elects the board. The board carries fiduciary responsibility for the foundation and oversees executive officers.

Working groups are formed under the governance framework and carry out specific lines of research, engineering, or standards work. Each working group publishes its charter, its participants, and the criteria by which it judges its own outputs.

Release reviews — the decision to publish or withhold a model, dataset, evaluation, or specification — sit between the working group and the board. Reviews are recorded and published with their rationale.

Status

Forming.

These principles have been published by the founding sponsor. They will be formally ratified by the founding membership upon election. Until then, the foundation operates under the stewardship of the founding sponsor in line with these principles, and prepares the membership and board election process for publication.