Resource answers
Can I use these datasets commercially or for AI training?
Dataset licenses (CC, ODbL, CDLA, custom terms) govern copying, sharing derived databases and, increasingly, AI training.
How can an AI agent check whether it may use datasets?
Call Rightshold's free check_license MCP tool or POST /v1/licenses/check with the license id and the intended uses; you get permitted, prohibited or needs-review with the reason and the duties.
What should I watch for with datasets? (1)
ODbL requires share-alike for derived databases you make public.
What should I watch for with datasets? (2)
CDLA-Permissive-2.0 explicitly allows using data to train models and does not restrict the model's output.
What should I watch for with datasets? (3)
Terms of service on a website can restrict scraping even when the content itself is openly licensed.
Common licenses for datasets
- CC0 — commercial: Yes, training: Yes
- CC BY 4.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- CC BY-SA 4.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- CC BY-NC 4.0 — commercial: No, training: Needs human review
- CC BY-ND 4.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 — commercial: No, training: Needs human review
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 — commercial: No, training: Needs human review
- MIT — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- Apache 2.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- BSD 3-Clause — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- ODbL 1.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- ODC-By 1.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- PDDL 1.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Yes
- CDLA Permissive 2.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Yes
- CC BY 3.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- CC BY-SA 3.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
- CC BY 2.0 — commercial: Yes, training: Needs human review
Check by API (free)
curl -s https://www.rightshold.com/v1/licenses/check -H 'content-type: application/json' \
-d '{"license_id":"CC0-1.0","intended_use":{"uses":["commercial_use"]}}'