MIT License

Open Source Commitment

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MIT License

Copyright (c) 2025 ARKOS AI Infrastructure

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:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all
copies or substantial portions of the Software.

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.

Understanding Our Open Source Philosophy

The MIT License represents more than legal text; it embodies our commitment to democratizing AI-powered development infrastructure. By choosing one of the most permissive open source licenses, we're ensuring that ARKOS can be adopted, modified, and integrated without artificial barriers that limit innovation.

What This Means for You

Commercial Use: Build commercial products on ARKOS without licensing fees or revenue sharing requirements. Your success doesn't trigger financial obligations to us. Whether you're a startup building your first product or an enterprise deploying across thousands of developers, the same freedom applies.

Modification Rights: Adapt ARKOS to your specific needs without seeking permission or sharing modifications. Your improvements can remain proprietary if that serves your business needs. We encourage contribution back to the community, but we don't mandate it.

Distribution Freedom: Include ARKOS in your products, services, or internal tools without restriction. Bundle it, embed it, or build upon it. The license travels with the code, ensuring downstream users receive the same freedoms.

Private Use: Deploy ARKOS internally without any disclosure requirements. Your use of ARKOS remains your business. No registration, no tracking, no obligations to announce your usage.

Community Contributions

While the MIT License doesn't require contributing improvements back to the community, we've structured incentives that make contribution attractive. Contributors receive:

• Recognition in our contributor hall of fame

• Priority support for implementation questions

• Early access to new features and agents

• Influence over roadmap priorities through the ARKOS Improvement Proposal process

• Token rewards for significant contributions

Commercial Services and Token Economy

The MIT License applies to the ARKOS software itself. The ARKOS token economy, managed services, enterprise support, and hosted infrastructure operate under separate commercial terms. This hybrid model ensures sustainable development while maintaining open source freedoms.

You can run ARKOS entirely independently without participating in the token economy. However, token participation unlocks advanced features, governance rights, and economic benefits that enhance the platform experience.

Patent Considerations

While the MIT License doesn't include explicit patent grants, ARKOS maintains a defensive patent portfolio with a commitment to only use patents defensively. We will never use patents offensively against users implementing ARKOS in good faith. This commitment extends to all forks and derivatives that maintain open source principles.

Compliance and Attribution

The only requirement is maintaining the copyright notice and license text in distributed copies. This minimal obligation ensures the chain of attribution while imposing no meaningful burden on users. You don't need to display attribution in user interfaces, marketing materials, or product documentation.

Enterprise Adoption

Enterprises often struggle with open source adoption due to legal complexity. The MIT License's simplicity accelerates legal review and approval. Your legal team will appreciate the clear terms, minimal obligations, and absence of copyleft provisions that could affect proprietary code.

Fork Rights and Project Governance

Anyone can fork ARKOS and take development in new directions. We view forks not as competition but as innovation laboratories where new ideas can be tested without affecting core stability. Successful fork innovations often merge back into the main project, benefiting everyone.

While forks are technically unlimited, the value of ARKOS comes from its community, continuous updates, and integration with the token economy. Forks typically struggle to maintain these network effects, making collaboration more valuable than competition.

Educational Use

Academic institutions, coding bootcamps, and educational platforms can use ARKOS without restriction. Teach with it, learn from it, build curricula around it. Education accelerates ecosystem growth, and we support educational use through additional resources, workshops, and direct support.

Government and NGO Adoption

Public sector organizations can deploy ARKOS without procurement complexity. The MIT License satisfies most government open source policies, enabling adoption without lengthy approval processes. We actively support public sector deployment through documentation, case studies, and reference architectures.

License Compatibility

The MIT License's permissiveness ensures compatibility with virtually all other open source licenses. Integrate ARKOS with GPL, Apache, BSD, or proprietary licensed software without conflict. This compatibility eliminates integration barriers that plague more restrictive licenses.

Our Commitment

Choosing the MIT License reflects our belief that AI-powered development infrastructure should be accessible to everyone. We're building a future where intelligent agents amplify human creativity without artificial restrictions. The license ensures this vision remains intact regardless of corporate changes, acquisitions, or strategic shifts.

The MIT License is irrevocable. Once released under these terms, ARKOS remains free forever. This permanence provides confidence for long-term adoption, knowing that licensing terms won't change unexpectedly.

Building Together

Open source is more than code; it's a development philosophy that accelerates innovation through collaboration. Every user, contributor, and fork participant strengthens the ecosystem. Together, we're building infrastructure that will power the next generation of software development.

The MIT License is our promise to the community: ARKOS will remain open, accessible, and free for everyone who wants to build the future of autonomous development. Your freedom to innovate is our highest priority, and this license ensures that freedom remains protected indefinitely.