Ownership and principles
A road owned by many, steered by its principles
VegvisAI should not be owned by us, or by any single company, in the long run. We are looking for owners who together can steward the platform, in an ownership form that protects and strengthens its principles.
Who we are looking for
Owners who, together, can carry the platform further:
- Businesses, small and large, that depend on being found by customers and want a fair road to them
- Organisations that represent businesses, industries or consumers
- People and companies who can contribute operations, code, knowledge or capital
No single owner, and no group of owners, should be able to take control. The large should not dominate the small, and the small should not block the large. Together the owners guard the principles below and make the platform stronger over time.
How we get there
| Step | Owner | When |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | The founders | Now, while we build |
| 2 | A company set up by the founders, temporarily | When there is commercial interest |
| 3 | A neutral owner: we aim for a cooperative owned by its members. An association, or a foundation as guardian, can also be discussed | When enough owners are ready. The form is decided together with them |
From the first day, domains, keys and accounts are kept so they can be handed over. The principles apply in every step, and we make a public pledge to them before the platform has a neutral owner.
Draft articles: the principles
Draft, principles only. This is not legal text yet. The final articles are written together with the owners and reviewed before they are adopted.
Purpose. Make it possible for every business to be found and understood by every AI agent, without a middleman taking control of the road to the customer.
Open to all. All businesses, industries and AI agents, including local models, get the same access on the same terms.
Ranking can't be bought. Ranking, verification and access are never paid for. How the guide chooses and orders results is published.
Businesses own their data. The platform never asks for raw data. It only indexes what the business itself publishes.
Open licences. The code is Apache 2.0 and the index ODbL. The licences can never be tightened.
Not greedy. Payment is for work, hosting, measurement, training and certification, never for placement or influence.
No dominant owner. No single owner can gain controlling influence. Member groups (small businesses, large businesses, organisations) have fixed board seats and capped votes.
A locked core. Changing the purpose or principles 2 to 7, selling the brand, or winding up the platform requires a qualified majority, and may require approval from an independent guardian.
Always movable. Domains, keys and accounts belong to the owner. Operating agreements have an exit clause, a notice period and a handover plan.
Open books. Articles, accounts, the rules for results and removed listings are public and can be checked.
Our pledge
Draft for launch. VegvisAI is owned and run privately by Espen Brathaug. Until a neutral owner takes over, he promises to follow principles 1–6, 9 and 10 from the day we launch. Principles 7 and 8 need several owners and apply to the neutral owner. This is a personal promise made in public; the real guarantee is that the code and the index are open.
- Only stricter, never weaker. The principles will be tightened as we learn, not loosened, and no new rule will break them.
- In the open. The pledge lives as
PLEDGE.mdin the public repository. Every change is a public commit with a date and a reason. - Carried forward. The pledge goes into the articles of every owner that follows: our limited company, and then the neutral owner.
- Your remedy. If we break it, the code (Apache 2.0) and the index (ODbL) are yours to take. Fork us.
Interested?
If your business or organisation wants to help own and steward the road to the customer, we would like to talk. Contact: Espen Brathaug, Oslo, Norway, contact@vegvis.ai.
Read more about why we build VegvisAI.