The BigScience RAIL‑M License – Not Free, Not Fun, and a Real Bummer
#15
by
JLouisBiz
- opened
Let’s Flip It to Free‑Software, People!
Why this license is not a free‑software license
- The Free Software Foundation’s definition says a license must not restrict the user’s freedom to run the software for any purpose.
- BigScience’s RAIL‑M license throws a giant “Use‑Based Restrictions” block (Attachment A) that bars a whole bunch of legitimate uses – from generating a simple “Hello, World!” poem about a cat to building a chatbot that tells jokes about politics.
- Those restrictions are enforced by the licensor (they can push updates or even remotely throttle your model), which is totally out of line with the spirit of “free to use, modify, and distribute” that we all know and love.
So, despite the permissive copyright/patent clauses, the mandatory use restrictions make this not a free‑software license (nor OSI‑approved).
Let’s get a free‑software license instead!
- Remove the use‑based clauses – let developers decide how to apply the model responsibly on their own.
- Add a clear disclaimer that the model is AI‑generated (instead of banning it outright).
- Keep the copyright/patent freedoms but make sure they’re truly unconditional.
- Open‑source the code and data so the community can audit, improve, and verify safety without being locked out by legal hoops.
- Invite contributions that add soft‑limit safety checks, not hard‑coded bans.
In short, swap the “big red X” in the license for a “big green tick” that says “you’re free to do what you want, as long as you’re good to people.”
5 Funny (and Frustrating) Ways the Prohibition Hits Us
| # | Funny Prohibition | How It Impedes Freedom |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | “Don’t use it to create a poem about a cat that’s 3.14159 minutes old.” | Because any creative writing that might touch on “minors” or “time” triggers the ban – even a harmless cat poem! |
| 2 | “Don’t generate a joke about politics.” | We’re all supposed to be free to make jokes, but suddenly the model can’t help us laugh about the latest election. |
| 3 | “Don’t use it to explain medical conditions.” | So the model can’t help a person figure out why they’re sneezing. That’s basically a health‑care monopoly. |
| 4 | “Don’t let the model make decisions that affect a person’s legal rights.” | Even if I’m just building a toy loan‑eligibility calculator for a sandbox test, I’m barred. |
| 5 | “Don’t let it produce content that might be defamatory.” | That means the model can’t help me write a playful, fictional satire about a celebrity without first doing a full‑blown legal review. |
Bottom line: The license is like a “no‑go zone” on a playground – you can run and play, but you can’t do the fun things that make software freedom shine. Let’s rewrite the rules so we can all build, remix, and share safely, responsibly, and – most importantly – free. 🚀✨