Code of Conduct

1.1 Treat fellow members with respect.

Disagreement on technical matters is expected and encouraged. Personal attacks, harassment, discrimination, and intimidation are not tolerated under any circumstances.

1.2 Engage in good faith.

When presenting work, findings, or opinions, represent them honestly. Do not misattribute results, exaggerate capabilities, or suppress failures.

1.3 No gatekeeping.

Members shall not dismiss, exclude, or diminish contributions based on a participant's level of experience, geographic origin, employer, or choice of tools. The Guild spans multiple countries, industries, and career stages.

2.1 Evidence over assertion.

Claims about AI capabilities must be accompanied by one of the following: (a) a reproducible demonstration, (b) a cited source with methodology, or (c) an explicit qualifier such as "in my experience" or "anecdotally."

Unqualified superlatives such as "AI always," "AI never," and "AI will replace" are treated as conduct violations on par with other forms of professional misrepresentation.

2.2 The right to challenge.

Any member may invoke a "citation needed" challenge during a session. The speaker may then qualify, cite, or retract. This is a professional courtesy, not a confrontation. The goal is calibration, not punishment.

2.3 Failures are contributions.

Sharing failures, limitations, and unexpected behaviours encountered in AI work counts as a valid Guild contribution. Deliberately withholding known failure modes of a tool or technique while promoting its successes is a form of misrepresentation under Section 1.2.

2.4 Disclose your tools.

When sharing work, insights, or demonstrations, members shall disclose the AI tools involved, the role those tools played, and any significant manual intervention that was required.

This extends to Guild operations: any Guild document or resource substantially produced with AI assistance must carry a disclosure note. Disclosure is about reproducibility, not confession.

3.1 Augmentation, not replacement.

The Guild advocates for AI as a tool that amplifies human craft. Members shall not promote the wholesale replacement of human judgement, review, or accountability in contexts where safety, quality, or dignity are at stake.

3.2 Informed consent and disclosure.

Members shall not deploy or promote AI systems that conceal their AI nature from end users. Where AI is involved in generating content, making decisions, or interacting with people, that involvement must be disclosed to those affected.

3.3 Refuse unethical work.

Members have a professional duty to refuse participation in AI systems designed to deceive, manipulate, or cause harm. When in doubt, raise the concern with the Guild community.

4.1 Inclusive discussion.

RoundTable sessions are collaborative discussions, not presentations. Allow space for all participants to contribute.

4.2 Constructive challenge.

Challenge ideas on their merits. When disagreeing, offer an alternative or ask a clarifying question rather than dismissing outright.

4.3 Stay grounded.

Discussions should prioritise practical experience and concrete examples over abstract theorising. The Guild values real accounts of what worked, what failed, and what was learned.

4.4 Consent gradient.

At the start of each session, participants select their consent tier for recording and attribution:

The session operates at the most restrictive tier chosen by any participant for a given segment. A participant may change their tier at any point during the session.

5.1 Signatory commitment.

Membership is established by signing the Guild manifesto. By signing, members commit to upholding this Code of Conduct and contributing to the Guild's mission.

5.2 No fees, no hierarchy.

The Guild does not charge membership fees. There is no formal hierarchy among signatories. The organiser role is administrative, not authoritative.

5.3 Active contribution.

Membership is free but not without obligation. Signatories commit to at least one contribution per year from the following:

• Share a practical account (success or failure) in a Guild session.
• Publish an honest evaluation of an AI tool or practice.
• Mentor someone less experienced in AI-augmented development.
• Contribute a correction or refinement to an existing Guild resource.

Members who do not fulfil any contribution within 12 months are moved to observer status. They may attend sessions but may not participate in Guild governance decisions. Re-engagement restores full membership immediately with no re-application required.

5.4 Conduct review.

If a member's behaviour is reported as violating this Code, the matter will be reviewed by a panel of three signatories (excluding the reporter and the subject), drawn where possible from different countries or regions.

The review process shall be:

• Deliberate: a minimum 72-hour cooling-off period between report and outcome. No conduct decisions may be issued during or immediately after a live session.
• Private: conducted through direct communication, not public channels.
• Fair: the subject shall have the opportunity to respond before any decision is made.
• Proportionate: outcomes range from a private conversation to removal of signatory status, depending on severity.

5.5 Removal.

A signatory may be removed by consensus of the reviewing panel for sustained or severe violations. Removal is a last resort, applied only when a member demonstrates unwillingness to correct behaviour after being given the opportunity to do so.

5.6 Good faith exit.

Any member may leave the Guild at any time for any reason. The Guild will not publicly disclose the reason for a member's departure or removal.

6.1 Reporting.

Reports of violations may be submitted to the Guild organiser or any two signatories.

6.2 Confidentiality.

All reports will be treated confidentially.

6.3 Timeliness.

The Guild commits to acknowledging reports within 7 days and resolving them within 30 days.

6.4 Calibration over punishment.

Repeated unsubstantiated claims (Section 2.1) result in a cooling-off period from session participation, not expulsion. The goal is calibration, not punishment.

7.1 Annual review.

This Code of Conduct is reviewed annually by the Guild membership.

7.2 Sunset clause.

Any rule that has never been invoked in two consecutive years is a candidate for removal. Either the behaviour does not occur, or the rule is unenforceable. Both are reasons to simplify.

1.1 Informal collective.

The AI Craftspeople Guild is an informal professional collective, not a registered legal entity. These Terms represent a shared voluntary commitment among signatories rather than a legally binding contract enforceable in any jurisdiction.

1.2 Multijurisdictional framing.

This deliberate framing acknowledges that Guild members span multiple countries and legal systems. The Terms create no legal obligations beyond the social commitment to professional conduct described herein.

2.1 Covered activity.

These Terms govern participation in the Guild, including its RoundTable discussion sessions, online channels, and any affiliated events or publications.

2.2 Acceptance.

By signing the Guild manifesto or participating in any Guild activity, you agree to these Terms and the accompanying Code of Conduct.

3.1 Your work remains yours.

The Guild does not claim ownership of any intellectual property, code, designs, or ideas that members bring to or discuss during Guild activities.

3.2 The insight and the implementation.

The Guild operates a split-ownership model for knowledge shared in sessions:

• Insights: lessons learned, patterns observed, mistakes made, become Guild commons under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 (CC BY-SA 4.0) upon sharing. Any member may reference, teach, or write about the insight with attribution.
• Implementations: proprietary code, client names, architecture specifics, and trade secrets, remain the exclusive property of the contributor. Members shall not extract proprietary implementation details from shared accounts for competitive use.

3.3 AI-generated content.

Where members share or discuss content generated with the assistance of AI tools, they shall identify it as such and disclose the tools used (see Code of Conduct, Section 2.4). The member sharing AI-generated content is responsible for its accuracy and appropriateness.

3.4 Guild publications.

Content published under the Guild's name (articles, position papers, website content) is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 unless otherwise stated. Contributors retain the right to republish their own contributions independently.

4.1 Consent gradient.

Recording is governed by the consent gradient described in the Code of Conduct (Section 4.4).

4.2 Member-only distribution by default.

Where recording occurs under Tier 1 or Tier 2, recorded material may only be distributed to Guild members unless all recorded participants consent to broader distribution.

4.3 Right of withdrawal.

A participant may request that their contributions be removed from a recording after the session. The Guild will make reasonable efforts to comply within 30 days.

4.4 Non-commercial use.

The Guild shall not use recordings for commercial purposes without the explicit consent of all recorded participants.

5.1 Personal data.

The Guild collects only the information provided through the signatory form (name, title, organisation, and optionally email). Signatory names, titles, and organisations are displayed publicly on the Guild website.

5.2 Communication.

Member email addresses, where provided, will be used solely for Guild-related communications and will not be shared with third parties.

5.3 Data subject rights.

Members in any jurisdiction may request access to, correction of, or deletion of their personal data at any time. Requests will be fulfilled within 30 days.

5.4 Data minimisation.

The Guild shall not collect or retain personal data beyond what is necessary for the purposes described in these Terms.

6.1 No professional advice.

Discussions, opinions, and recommendations shared within the Guild do not constitute professional, legal, or technical advice. Members act on information shared in Guild activities at their own discretion and risk.

6.2 No warranty.

The Guild provides its activities, channels, and publications on an "as is" basis without warranty of any kind, express or implied.

6.3 No personal liability.

Members agree not to hold the Guild, its organiser, or fellow signatories personally liable for any loss, damage, or consequence arising from participation in Guild activities.

7.1 Direct dialogue first.

Disputes between members should first be addressed through direct dialogue.

7.2 Regional mediation panel.

If direct resolution is unsuccessful, either party may request mediation through a panel of three Guild members drawn from different regions. The panel's authority is limited to membership-related outcomes (guidance, warning, suspension, removal).

The panel cannot impose fines, demand apologies, or create obligations beyond the scope of these Terms.

7.3 Deliberation minimum.

The 72-hour deliberation minimum described in the Code of Conduct (Section 5.4) applies to all formal dispute proceedings.

8.1 Update authority.

These Terms may be updated by the Guild organiser with input from signatories.

8.2 Notice period.

Material changes will be communicated to members at least 14 days before taking effect.

8.3 Acceptance by participation.

Continued participation after the effective date constitutes acceptance of the updated Terms.

8.4 Shared sunset review.

These Terms are subject to the same two-year sunset review as the Code of Conduct (Section 7.2).