The Agora Declaration

Preamble

Knowledge grows when anyone may question it. Claims about science, technology and artificial intelligence are multiplying faster than anyone can check them. Agora exists so that a claim can be stated together with its data, rechecked by anyone, and recorded with the result, whoever made it.

I. Mission

Agora is the open laboratory and platform of the Open Verifiable AI Consortium (OVAIC, ovaic.org). Here the problems, methods, decisions and solutions that OVAIC members bring from all over the world are joined, tested and reproduced in public. Agora does not decide what anyone must think. It keeps the conditions under which ideas can be examined freely and rigorously.

II. Independence

1. Agora is not a division, instrument or representative of Gravit Open Network Foundation or of any single company.
2. OVAIC sets questions and methods together with its members; it does not decide results. Results come only from published receipts.
3. No initiator, contributor, sponsor, company, foundation, government or network, OVAIC included, has an inherent right to control Agora's findings.
4. Having initiated, funded or built Agora gives no privileged authority over other participants.

III. Equal standing of ideas

The value of an idea is not determined by the money, fame, position or affiliation of its author. An unknown researcher and a large corporation have the same right to present and defend a claim. Equal standing does not mean equal weight: the strength of each argument depends on its evidence.

IV. Freedom to disagree

Every participant may challenge published claims, results, technical solutions and philosophical positions, in good faith and with respect. Nobody is excluded because their idea is inconvenient to an influential participant.

V. No monopoly on truth

No initiator, participant, council or company has the exclusive right to declare what is true. Agora does not own truth; it records how claims were checked.

VI. Open competition

Agora gives equal opportunity to present, discuss and test competing technologies, including those of organizations that compete with its initiators. Rules and criteria of every comparison are published before it begins.

VII. Verification and evidence

1. Agora distinguishes a claim from a reproduced result, and self reported performance from independently reproduced performance.
2. A claim is published with its data and the steps to recheck it. Each check is recorded as a receipt: reproduced, not reproduced, or insufficient data.
3. Negative results, failed checks and corrections are never hidden, including those against the initiators.

VIII. Right to a reason and to appeal

If a submission is refused, its author is told the concrete reason, may fix it and resubmit, and may appeal to someone who did not make the first decision. Nobody is obliged to agree with the author's position.

IX. Transparency and non domination

1. Funding, relationships and conflicts of interest are disclosed.
2. Money does not buy editorial control, preferential review or a better result.
3. No sponsor may suppress criticism or alter a published finding.

X. Initiators

Agora was initiated by a group of contributors; their names and roles are listed in the public history of this document. Initiating Agora gives them no ownership of its space, no authority over its findings and no privileged control over its future. They take part under the same rules as everyone else. Agora must remain able to show that their own technologies are weaker than others.

XI. Moderation is not judgment

Removing spam, unlawful content or unsafe material is administration. It is kept separate from judging whether a claim is right, and every moderation decision is logged publicly.

XII. Amendments

Anyone may propose an amendment. Amendments are made through a public procedure and preserve the purpose of Agora. The full history of this document stays public.