Make models. Use models. Share the upside.

The OMLA License is for creators, tuners, and anyone who put real work into the weights.

A model with an OMLA License requires royalties to be paid if the model is used commercially. The OMLA License only stipulates that royalties must be paid for commercial use to the model creators; it does not govern acceptable uses, merging, open‑source requirements, intellectual property, or output restrictions. Model makers may attach additional or sublicenses covering those aspects.

Non‑Commercial Use

OMLA‑licensed models are free to use for non‑commercial purposes, defined as activities that do not directly or indirectly generate revenue, financial contributions, or other material benefit. Examples include academic research, personal projects, and internal training. This also covers internal model training and development of future models, as well as hobby experimentation.

Commercial Use

Any use that seeks or results in financial gain—whether through sales, subscriptions, advertising, paid services, fundraising, sponsorships, or enhancing the value of another product or service (e.g., a boat tour using AI to announce fish sightings)—is considered commercial use. For commercial use by profit‑seeking individuals or organizations, 30% of revenue or cost to run is directed back to the model creators.

Read the License Publish Your Model Browse Registry I'm a Commercial User

Built by tinkerers who kept finding their work inside other people's products. Jake started this from his garage in Seattle; the rest is community.

License and Framework Development (click to expand)

Projected timeline and features to build. Full status on the roadmap page. If you're interested in helping, reach out.

  • Wallet architecture (Bech32m omla1… addresses) — completed Aug 2025
  • Hosted database with registry, lineage, splits, payments, audit log — completed Sep 2025
  • Model registration: Ed25519 identity + SHA-256 weight hash + signing — completed Sep 2025
  • Public registry with searchable model cards and detail pages — completed Oct 2025
  • Creator dashboard: models, wallets, earnings — completed Mar 2026
  • Commercial-user flow: company registration, quarterly usage report, history — completed Apr 2026
  • Compliance state machine + complaint intake — completed Apr 2026
  • Payment rail integrations (Stripe, PayPal, Lightning, ACH) — in progress
  • Proof-of-concept payout cycle (first quarter with real creators) — pending
  • Open-source SDKs for model card invocation + usage reporting — pending
  • Royalty-tracking embed for common inference gateways — pending
  • Donation / sponsor methods and transparency reports — pending
  • US EIN, bank account, and 501(c) filing — pending
  • Founding board established — completed 2025
  • Outreach to larger model makers & distribution platforms — ongoing
  • Heads of compliance for major jurisdictions — pending
  • Fundraising + government grant applications — ongoing
  • Translations of license and site into common languages — pending
  • Extension: likenesses, art, and other creative-work licensing — pending
  • Community forum + feedback channels — pending
  • End-user usability review & accessibility audit — ongoing

Framework under active development. Regulatory approvals may extend beyond submission dates.

Clarity

What an OMLA License means — and does not mean

An OMLA License, and by extension the OMLA non-profit corporation, does:

  • Mean free non‑commercial use (research, personal).
  • Mean a royalty payment if used commercially to the creators.
  • Base royalties on revenue from the model or cost to run: easy to compute, easy to pay.
  • Provide a wallet framework for single wallet payments for model use, which compensate all upstream model creators based on proportional contributions.

The OMLA License, and by extension the OMLA non-profit corporation, does not:

  • Force open‑sourcing of derivative code or weights.
  • Restrict deployment venue (cloud, on‑prem, edge, offline).
  • Mandate specific payment rails or wallets.
  • Track usage via telemetry or invasive reporting.
  • Impose copyleft/viral obligations (except the commercial use royalty stipulation for upstream models).
Other Quick Info

Two lanes

Personal/Research: free. Commercial: share 30% to creators via the model wallet.

One model → one wallet

A single payout address auto‑splits funds upstream.

Cascading splits

Derivatives declare contributions; the pool pays all upstream creators in one pass.

Open + practical

No copyleft, no lock‑in. Keep fine‑tunes private; just honor royalties on commercial use.