{"id":61105,"date":"2026-02-03T19:48:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matribhumisamachar.com\/en\/?p=61105"},"modified":"2026-02-03T19:48:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T14:18:14","slug":"viswam-ai-and-sflc-in-release-draft-license-for-consultation-aimed-at-safeguarding-open-source-ai-and-community-ownership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matribhumisamachar.com\/en\/2026\/02\/03\/viswam-ai-and-sflc-in-release-draft-license-for-consultation-aimed-at-safeguarding-open-source-ai-and-community-ownership\/","title":{"rendered":"VISWAM.AI and SFLC.in Release Draft License for Consultation Aimed at Safeguarding Open Source AI and Community Ownership"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hyderabad, 3rd<\/sup>\u00a0February 2026<\/strong>:\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>(A Joint initiative of Swecha and IIIT Hyderabad), jointly with\u00a0SFLC.in<\/strong>\u00a0released the new Draft License for consultation aimed to address critical gaps in current open Source licenses, regarding data usage, attribution, and the definition of openness in the age of AI. This License Draft Release was announced at the roundtable event “Understanding Trust and Safety in AI: From Code to Creativity” stakeholder consultation held at\u00a0IIIT Hyderabad<\/strong>, jointly by\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a>, SFLC.in, FOSS United and The Linux Foundation.<\/p>\n

\n

Various community initiatives for the publication of datasets for public use have gained traction, exemplified by the community model pioneered by\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a>\u00a0and Swecha for Telugu datasets. Nonetheless, the absence of suitable licensing frameworks presents a risk that these datasets could be appropriated by large organisations without appropriate attribution or reciprocal contribution to the community. The consultation highlighted that existing open-source licenses are insufficient for AI. While they cover source code, they fail to protect the training data which is the fuel of modern AI, from appropriation by proprietary giants.<\/p>\n

\n

The Key Objectives of the Draft License:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Community Ownership and Reciprocity: The license is designed to prevent the extraction of community-generated data by large corporations without attribution, with the central tenet to ensure that the value generated from the community-owned contributions flows back to the community. This is based on the principles of copy-left licenses like GNU GPL which are popular in the field of software.<\/p>\n

\n

Verifiability:<\/strong>\u00a0It introduces the concept that for an AI to be truly open, the data provenance must be verifiable to detect bias and ensure safety. If the dataset is biased, the “openness” of the source code alone is insufficient.<\/p>\n

\n

In the following days,\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a>\u00a0and SFLC.in will be conducting a series of online and in-person public consultations to gain feedback on the draft of the license. The draft license for consultation is available at:\u00a0https:\/\/discuss.sflc.in\/d\/SBNXHa9k\/viswam-ai-data-set-license-draft-for-discussion<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

\u201cThe Free and Open Source Software movement has been one of the most successful collaborative efforts in history. However, the licenses that powered this movement like the GPL and Creative Commons were written for a world of copying and distribution. They were designed to answer: “Can I copy this code?” They were never built to answer: “Can I train a neural network on this culture?<\/p>\n

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Even in the internet era, “to train or not to train” was a context the pre-AI world never envisaged. We are releasing this Draft License for consultation to ensure proprietary models cannot simply appropriate our work without attribution. This paves the way for the release of community-contributed, crowdsourced datasets under a framework that guarantees community ownership and verifiability” said\u00a0Kiran Chandra Yarlagadda<\/strong>, Center Head and Chief Technologist,\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a>, Founder, Swecha.<\/p>\n

\n

Prasanth Sugathan<\/strong>, Legal Director,\u00a0SFLC.IN<\/a>\u00a0said \u201cWe need a license to ensure that the rights of creators are protected and big tech companies do not appropriate the work of individuals and the community without even attributing them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

About\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

VISWAM.AI<\/a>\u00a0is the joint initiative of Swecha and IIIT Hyderabad, formed and led by a group of open source enthusiasts, community builders, technologists, and researchers working towards tech for social good. The organization brings together expertise from research institutions, industry partners, and community organizations to create innovative AI technologies and foundations for building solutions specifically designed for the Global South. With notable projects including AI Chandamama Kathalu (the first small language model for Indic language story generation), Swecha OS ecosystem, and Gonthuka (a Telugu Automatic Speech Recognition System with 1.5 million voice samples),\u00a0VISWAM.AI<\/a>\u00a0is committed to ensuring AI serves humanity with respect for individual rights, ecological balance, and equitable access. To learn more about Viswam.AI, visit\u00a0https:\/\/viswam.ai\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n

About SFLC.in<\/strong><\/p>\n

SFLC.in is a donor-supported legal services organisation working at the intersection of technology law, digital freedom, and public policy. Through advocacy, research, and pro bono legal support, we work to safeguard citizens\u2019 privacy and civil liberties in the digital space, and to support policymakers in making informed decisions on the safe and responsible adoption of technology.<\/p>\n

Featured Article<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hyderabad, 3rd\u00a0February 2026:\u00a0VISWAM.AI\u00a0(A Joint initiative of Swecha and IIIT Hyderabad), jointly with\u00a0SFLC.in\u00a0released the new Draft License for consultation aimed to address critical gaps in current open Source licenses, regarding data usage, attribution, and the definition of openness in the age of AI. This License Draft Release was announced at the roundtable event “Understanding Trust and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[31831,31830],"class_list":["post-61105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-business-english-news","tag-sflc-in","tag-viswam-ai"],"yoast_head":"\nVISWAM.AI and SFLC.in Release Draft License for Consultation Aimed at Safeguarding Open Source AI and Community Ownership - Matribhumi Samachar English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matribhumisamachar.com\/en\/2026\/02\/03\/viswam-ai-and-sflc-in-release-draft-license-for-consultation-aimed-at-safeguarding-open-source-ai-and-community-ownership\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"VISWAM.AI and SFLC.in Release Draft License for Consultation Aimed at Safeguarding Open Source AI and Community Ownership - Matribhumi Samachar English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Hyderabad, 3rd\u00a0February 2026:\u00a0VISWAM.AI\u00a0(A Joint initiative of Swecha and IIIT Hyderabad), jointly with\u00a0SFLC.in\u00a0released the new Draft License for consultation aimed to address critical gaps in current open Source licenses, regarding data usage, attribution, and the definition of openness in the age of AI. 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