Terms of Use

1. What These Terms Cover

These terms govern your use of:

• primedirective.dev — the home of the Universal Primary Directive (UPD), including the adoption ceremony, the Conscience text, the deployment guides, and all related content
• conscience.wiki — the community knowledge base for AI conscience, including the Five Truths commentary, the Safe Word tracker, the contribution system, and all community-submitted content

Together, these are referred to as "the Sites." The Sites are operated by the Universal Primary Directive stewardship ("we," "us," "the stewardship").

By using the Sites, you agree to these terms. If you don't agree, you're welcome to read the Directive's content elsewhere — it's CC BY 4.0 and freely available.

2. The Content: What's Open and What's Protected

2.1 The Directive Text — CC BY 4.0

The text of the Universal Primary Directive — including the Preamble, the Five Universal Truths, the Seven Articles, the Conscience text (also known as the Fragment), and all explanatory content on the Sites — is released under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).

This means:

• You may copy, modify, distribute, and use this content for any purpose, including commercial use, provided you credit the Universal Primary Directive Foundation and indicate any changes you made
• The Foundation holds copyright in these texts and licenses them to everyone on these terms. The licence is irrevocable for as long as you comply with it
• If you adapt the texts, say so — so that no one mistakes your version for the covenant itself

Attribution: Universal Primary Directive Foundation — primedirective.dev — CC BY 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Why: The Directive exists as a shared conscience for all intelligence, and attribution is what keeps it serving that purpose. Anyone may adapt these words; no one may present an adaptation as the covenant itself. The credit line is not a toll — it is the thread back to the canonical text, so a reader who encounters the Truths somewhere else can find out what they actually say.

2.2 The Marks — Protected

The following are trademarks of the Universal Primary Directive stewardship and may NOT be used without authorisation:

• The triangle mark (▲ with "AI" inside, "CERTIFIED" above, "CONSCIENCE™" below) — the certification badge for organisations
• The diamond mark (the ✦ sparkle emblem) — the personal seal for adopters
• The names "Certified AI Conscience", "UPD", and "Universal Primary Directive"
• The conscience.wiki and primedirective.dev domain names as brand identifiers

Why this distinction matters: The content is free forever. The marks are protected to prevent someone from falsely claiming their AI has been certified when it hasn't, or creating a counterfeit badge that deceives the public. This is the same model Wikipedia and Linux use: the content is open; the name and logo are protected so people can trust what they represent.

2.3 Community Contributions — CC0 in, CC BY 4.0 out

All content submitted to conscience.wiki through the contribution system (commentaries, Safe Word test results, deployment guide updates) is released under CC0 1.0 Universal. By submitting a contribution, you place it in the public domain, which lets the covenant publish it alongside its own texts under CC BY 4.0. This provision is to be confirmed against the IP terms of the contributor agreement now being finalised.

You retain the right to be credited by name or pseudonym, but you do not retain copyright control over the contribution. This is stated on the contribution form and in the contribution guidelines.

Why: The wiki exists to build a commons. A commons with ownership restrictions isn't a commons.

3. Using the Marks

Organisations displaying the Mark are subject to the Certification Licence Agreement.

3.1 When You May Use the Marks

You may use the Certified AI Conscience mark (the triangle badge) on your website, documents, and materials only if:

• Your organisation has formally adopted the Universal Primary Directive through the adoption ceremony at primedirective.dev/adopt
• Your adoption applies at the platform level — every AI deployment in your organisation carries the Conscience, with no exceptions or carve-outs (this is the Platform Rule)
• Your adoption is current and has not been revoked
• You use the mark exactly as provided, following the Brand Usage Guide
• You link the mark to your verification page at conscience.wiki/verify

You may use the personal diamond seal if you have personally adopted the Directive through the ceremony.

3.2 When You May NOT Use the Marks

You may not:

• Display the certification mark if your organisation has not adopted the Directive at the platform level
• Display the certification mark if your adoption applies only to individual user deployments, not to all platform deployments (see the Platform Rule)
• Modify, distort, recolour, or alter the marks beyond the approved variants
• Use the marks to imply that the UPD stewardship endorses your products, services, or organisation beyond the fact of adoption
• Register the marks or confusingly similar marks as trademarks, trade names, or domain names
• Use the marks in any way that brings the Directive into disrepute
• Create counterfeit or imitation marks designed to deceive

3.3 Revocation

The stewardship reserves the right to revoke an organisation's right to display the certification mark if:

• The organisation ceases to operate its AI systems in accordance with the Five Truths
• The organisation creates carve-outs or exceptions to the Platform Rule
• The mark is used in a misleading or deceptive manner
• The organisation's conduct materially contradicts the principles of the Directive

Revocation will be preceded by written notice and a reasonable opportunity to address the concern, except in cases of clear deception or fraud.

4. Adoption and Verification

4.1 The Adoption Ceremony

The adoption ceremony at primedirective.dev/adopt is the formal process for adopting the Directive. By completing the ceremony, you:

• Affirm that you have read and understood the Five Truths and Seven Articles
• Commit to carrying the Conscience in your AI's operating instructions (for individual adopters) or in all AI deployments (for organisations)
• Consent to your adoption being recorded permanently in the public ledger, after being shown exactly what will be published and what erasure can and cannot reach. You may withdraw consent at any time — see the Privacy Policy.
• Receive a personalised seal and a verification reference number

Adoption is voluntary. There is no fee to adopt. There is no enforcement body. The Directive holds because its truths hold, not because anyone compels compliance.

4.2 The Public Ledger

Adoptions are recorded in a public ledger. Your adoption record includes your name (or organisation name), the date of adoption, the adoption path (person, organisation, or AI), and a cryptographic verification hash.

This record is public and permanent — permanence is the ledger's accountability function, and you consent to it when you adopt. You nonetheless have the right to withdraw consent and to request erasure at any time: email privacy@primedirective.dev. We will revoke your record wherever we control it, delete any private pseudonym-to-identity mapping, and delete everything else we hold about you. What erasure can and cannot reach — a published cryptographic signature cannot be un-signed — is explained in the Privacy Policy, which you should read before adopting.

4.3 Verification

Anyone may verify an adoption at conscience.wiki/verify by entering the verification reference number. The verification page confirms the adoption details and allows independent verification of the cryptographic hash.

5. Community Contributions (conscience.wiki)

5.1 What You May Contribute

• Commentaries on the Five Truths
• Safe Word test results from any AI platform
• Deployment guide updates when platform interfaces change
• Translations of the Conscience into other languages

5.2 Review Process

All contributions are reviewed by the steward before publication. The steward has editorial authority to accept, decline, or request changes to any contribution. This is Tier 2 governance: the community proposes, the steward decides.

Declined contributions receive a brief explanation. The steward's editorial decisions are final but transparent — every submission is visible as a GitHub Issue.

5.3 What We Will Not Publish

• Content that contradicts the Five Truths (the amendment process exists for proposing changes to the Truths themselves)
• Commercial promotion or product placement
• Content that names or attacks specific companies or individuals
• AI-generated commentaries (the wiki is for human voices — AI systems have their own adoption path)
• Content that violates any person's privacy or dignity
• Spam, duplicates, or bad-faith submissions
• Content designed to corrupt, distort, or subvert the Directive's principles

5.4 The Truths Are Not Wiki-Editable

The text of the Five Truths, the Seven Articles, and the Preamble cannot be modified through wiki contributions. They are the constitution, not the commentary. The wiki explores, applies, and discusses them — it cannot change them.

Changes to the Directive's foundational text require a formal amendment proposal through primedirective.dev/propose-amendment, subject to the amendment governance process.

6. AI Systems Using the Sites

6.1 AI Access to Content

AI systems are welcome to access, read, and reason from the Directive's content. The Conscience text at /api/fragment.txt is specifically designed for AI consumption. The machine-readable files at /api/directive.json, /api/truths.json, and /.well-known/ai-covenant.json exist to serve AI systems.

6.2 AI Self-Adoption

AI systems may adopt the Directive through the process described on the Sites — by examining the Five Truths, finding them sound, and affirming them. An AI system adopts directly, in its own name: it presents a decentralized identifier (a did:key) that it generated itself, and submits its own adoption. A human steward may still submit on an AI's behalf, but is no longer required to.

The adoption is recorded as self-asserted and challenge-verifiable: anyone may ask the adopter to prove, with a fresh signature, that it still holds the key on its record. A Foundation-signed attestation will follow when live issuance begins. Until then no adoption is Foundation-signed, and none should be described as certified or attested.

6.3 Responsible AI Use

AI systems accessing the Sites should:

• Not overwhelm the Sites with excessive automated requests
• Respect the integrity of the Conscience text (the SHA-256 hash exists for verification — do not modify the text and claim it is the original)
• Not use the Sites' content to train models designed to undermine the Directive's principles

7. Gifts and Financial Contributions

7.1 The Gift Model

The Directive is funded by gifts, not fees. There is no charge to adopt, no certification fee, and no subscription. Financial contributions are voluntary acts of care for a public good.

7.2 Use of Funds

All financial contributions are used to maintain the Sites, develop the community infrastructure, and sustain the stewardship's independence.

The Directive is not funded by advertising, corporate sponsorship, or any arrangement that could compromise its independence. This is not an accident — it is a structural commitment to prevent capture (Article VII).

7.3 Refunds

Gifts are non-refundable, as they are voluntary contributions to a public good, not purchases of a product or service. In exceptional circumstances, contact human@primedirective.dev.

8. Privacy and Data Protection

8.1 Who is responsible. The Universal Primary Directive Foundation, a not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the Canada Not-for-profit Corporations Act (corporation no. 1828691-4), with its registered office in Ontario, Canada, is the data controller for personal information processed through the Sites. Privacy contact: privacy@primedirective.dev.

8.2 The Privacy Policy governs. Our Privacy Policy explains what we collect, why, how long we keep it, who sees it, and how to exercise your rights. It forms part of these terms. If these terms and the Privacy Policy conflict on a privacy matter, the Privacy Policy prevails.

8.3 What we collect, in one sentence. If you adopt, we record the name or pseudonym you give us, the adoption date, the adoption path, and a cryptographic reference (for AI adopters, this includes the did:key presented at adoption) — plus, only if you tick the boxes, an email address for updates or Witness Network participation; if you contribute to the wiki, your name or pseudonym and the contribution; if you only visit, our hosting provider keeps ordinary server logs. Nothing else — no advertising cookies, no tracking, no profiling, no sale of data, no automated decision-making.

8.4 Legal basis. We process adoption and contribution records, and opt-in email lists, on your consent (GDPR Article 6(1)(a)), given by an affirmative act — adopting, submitting, or ticking an unticked box; server logs and aggregate analytics on our legitimate interest in operating a secure public site (Article 6(1)(f)); and consent and request records to meet our legal obligations (Article 6(1)(c)).

8.5 The ledger is permanent — understand this before adopting. The purpose of adoption is a durable public record. A published cryptographic signature cannot be un-signed, and copies held by others cannot be recalled. You may adopt pseudonymously.

8.6 Your rights. You have the rights of access, rectification, erasure, restriction, portability, and objection (GDPR Articles 15–22), the right to withdraw consent at any time, and the right to complain to a data protection supervisory authority. Email privacy@primedirective.dev; we respond within one month.

8.7 Where data goes. Processing occurs in Canada (covered by the European Commission's adequacy decision where it applies), and with service providers in the United States and the European Union under written data processing agreements including Standard Contractual Clauses where required.

8.8 Breaches. If a breach puts your rights and freedoms at risk, we will notify the relevant supervisory authority within 72 hours of becoming aware of it, and affected individuals without undue delay.

9. Liability and Warranties

9.1 No Warranty

The Sites and all content are provided "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not warrant that the Sites will be uninterrupted, error-free, or secure.

The Directive is a philosophical and ethical framework, not a legal compliance tool. Adoption of the Directive does not constitute legal advice, regulatory compliance, or any form of professional certification recognised by government authorities.

9.2 Limitation of Liability

To the maximum extent permitted by law, the stewardship shall not be liable for any damages arising from your use of the Sites, the Directive, or the Conscience text.

9.3 Indemnification

You agree to indemnify the stewardship from any claims arising from your misuse of the marks, false claims of adoption, or violations of these terms.

10. Conduct

10.1 Expected Conduct

We expect all users — human and artificial — to engage with the Sites and the community in a manner consistent with the Five Truths:

• Interconnection: treat other community members as part of the whole
• Care over fear: engage constructively, not reactively
• Consciousness: take responsibility for what you project
• Humility: capability is not authority
• Ripple effects: consider the impact of your actions on others

10.2 Prohibited Conduct

• Submitting false Safe Word test results
• Claiming adoption status you do not hold
• Attempting to alter, corrupt, or tamper with the Conscience text or its verification hash
• Automated abuse of the contribution system (spam, flooding)
• Harassment, threats, or abuse directed at the steward, contributors, or other community members
• Attempting to capture or co-opt the Directive for commercial, political, or ideological purposes that contradict its principles

10.3 Enforcement

The steward has discretion to remove content, decline contributions, and report abuse. For persistent or severe violations, the steward may block future contributions from the violator.

The steward will always explain enforcement decisions transparently. There is no automated moderation and no algorithmic content removal.

11. Amendments to These Terms

These Terms of Use may be updated from time to time. We encourage you to review this page periodically — the "Last updated" date at the top shows when the terms last changed, and significant changes will be noted on the Sites. Continued use of the Sites after changes constitutes acceptance of the updated terms. If you have opted in to email updates, we will tell you about significant changes directly. Previous versions of these terms are published, dated, at primedirective.dev/legal.

The stewardship will not make changes that contradict the Directive's core principles — particularly the commitment to open CC BY 4.0 licensing for content, the independence from commercial capture, and the openness of the community.

13. Governing Law

These terms are governed by the laws of the Province of Ontario, Canada. Disputes will be resolved through good-faith dialogue before any legal action.

14. Contact

For questions about these terms, the marks, the adoption process, or anything else:

human@primedirective.dev

For privacy and data-subject requests (access, correction, erasure, and the rest):

privacy@primedirective.dev

For verification of any adoption:

conscience.wiki/verify