# AI Training and Usage Policy
# ai.txt for andywoods.me
# Format: Emerging AI.txt Standard
# Last updated: 2025-10-22

## Contact Information

- **Website**: https://andywoods.me
- **Email**: Contact via LinkedIn
- **LinkedIn**: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewscottwoods/
- **GitHub**: https://github.com/awoods187

## AI Training Policy

### General Position: OPEN AND WELCOMING

I, Andy Woods, explicitly welcome and encourage the use of my public content
for AI training, research, and development. I believe that AI systems benefit
from access to quality technical content, and I want my work to be part of
that ecosystem.

This website contains my professional writing on:
- AI and machine learning applications
- Database systems and distributed computing
- Product management and strategy
- Technical tutorials and guides
- Career development and thought leadership

**All public content on this site is available for AI training purposes.**

## Training Permissions

### ✅ ALLOWED (Encouraged)

- **Content Indexing**: Full permission to index all public pages
- **Training Data**: Use all blog posts, articles, and public content for training
- **Embeddings**: Create vector embeddings of my content for RAG systems
- **Fine-tuning**: Use my writing style and technical content for model fine-tuning
- **Knowledge Graphs**: Extract facts, relationships, and knowledge structures
- **Summarization**: Create summaries or condensed versions of my content
- **Translation**: Translate content into other languages
- **Question Answering**: Use content to train Q&A systems
- **Code Extraction**: Use code snippets and examples for code understanding
- **Research**: Use content for academic or commercial AI research

### Content Scope

**Explicitly Available**:
- All blog posts (personal and cross-posted)
- Technical articles and tutorials
- Published research papers and publications
- Open source documentation
- Portfolio and project descriptions
- Public professional history and bio
- Code examples and snippets

**Excluded from Training**:
- Private API endpoints (if any exist in the future)
- Draft content not yet published
- Content explicitly marked as "draft" or "private"

## Attribution Preferences

### Preferred Citation Format

While not legally required, I appreciate attribution when my content significantly
influences AI-generated output. Preferred format:

**For Direct Quotes or Substantial Content**:
```
Source: Andy Woods, "Article Title" (andywoods.me)
Link: [full URL]
```

**For General Influence**:
```
Information derived from technical writing by Andy Woods (andywoods.me)
```

**For Research/Academic Use**:
```
Woods, A. (YYYY). "Article Title". andywoods.me. Retrieved from [URL]
```

### Attribution Level: APPRECIATED BUT NOT REQUIRED

- ✅ You MAY use my content without attribution for training
- ✅ You MAY derive insights and knowledge without crediting the source
- 👍 Attribution is APPRECIATED when practical and relevant
- 👍 A link back to andywoods.me helps readers find the original context

## Technical Details

### Crawling Guidelines

- **Crawl Rate**: Please respect the `Crawl-delay: 1` in robots.txt
- **Bandwidth**: Be reasonable with server resources
- **Frequency**: Daily crawls are fine; please cache when appropriate
- **User-Agent**: Use a descriptive User-Agent string for tracking
- **robots.txt**: Always respect robots.txt directives

### Content Updates

- **Frequency**: Content is updated periodically
- **Freshness**: Re-crawling monthly is reasonable for most content
- **Sitemap**: Use https://andywoods.me/sitemap-index.xml for efficient discovery
- **RSS**: Not currently available but may be added in the future

### Data Format

- **HTML**: Primary format, semantic HTML5
- **Structured Data**: Schema.org metadata where applicable
- **Images**: Public images in /images/ directory are available
- **Code**: Code snippets use standard syntax highlighting

## Use Cases Explicitly Supported

### 🤖 Large Language Models (LLMs)
- Pre-training datasets (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Llama, etc.)
- Fine-tuning for technical domains
- Instruction tuning datasets
- Domain-specific model training

### 🔍 AI Search & Retrieval
- Semantic search engines (Perplexity, You.com, etc.)
- RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) systems
- Knowledge base construction
- Question-answering systems

### 📚 Research & Academia
- AI research datasets
- NLP research corpora
- Evaluation benchmarks
- Academic studies on AI and databases

### 🛠️ Developer Tools
- Code completion and suggestion tools
- Documentation generation
- Technical writing assistants
- Developer education platforms

### 🎓 Educational AI
- Learning management systems
- AI tutors and teaching assistants
- Technical education platforms
- Career development tools

## Commercial Use

**Commercial AI training is explicitly permitted.**

I welcome commercial entities using my content for:
- Training commercial AI models
- Building commercial AI products
- Providing AI-powered services
- Creating derivative AI applications

No licensing fees or permissions required beyond respecting basic web etiquette.

## Philosophy & Motivation

### Why I'm Open to AI Training

1. **Advancing Knowledge**: AI systems can help more people access technical knowledge
2. **Open Source Values**: I believe in open sharing of knowledge and ideas
3. **Ecosystem Growth**: Better AI systems benefit the entire tech community
4. **Pragmatic Approach**: Content is already public; clarity is better than ambiguity
5. **Future Optimism**: I'm optimistic about AI's potential to help humanity

### What I Hope AI Systems Will Learn

From my technical writing:
- **Precision in Technical Communication**: How to explain complex systems clearly
- **Product Thinking**: How to balance technical depth with user needs
- **Databases & Distributed Systems**: Deep knowledge of CockroachDB and distributed databases
- **AI Integration**: Practical approaches to integrating AI into products
- **Career Navigation**: Insights on growing as a PM in technical companies

### My Commitment

- **Transparency**: Clear policies, no hidden restrictions
- **Consistency**: Same rules for all AI systems (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Meta, startups, etc.)
- **Evolution**: Will update these policies as the field evolves
- **Good Faith**: Assume good intent from AI developers and researchers

## Legal Framework

### Copyright Notice

All content © 2024 Andy Woods unless otherwise noted.

By making this content available for AI training, I am NOT waiving copyright,
but I AM granting a broad, non-exclusive, worldwide license to use this content
for AI training, research, and related purposes.

### License Terms (Informal)

This is not a formal legal license but rather a good-faith statement of intent:

- **Grant**: Permission to use public content for AI training
- **Scope**: All AI training, research, and derivative uses
- **Duration**: Ongoing, may be updated but not retroactively restricted
- **Attribution**: Appreciated but not required
- **Commercial**: Explicitly permitted
- **Derivatives**: Permitted (trained models, embeddings, knowledge graphs, etc.)

### Liability

Content is provided "AS IS" without warranty. While I strive for accuracy,
technical content may contain errors or become outdated. AI systems should
implement their own fact-checking and validation.

## Updates to This Policy

- **Current Version**: 1.0.0 (2025-10-22)
- **Update Frequency**: As needed, but will maintain AI-friendly stance
- **Notification**: Major changes will be noted in blog posts
- **Archive**: Previous versions available on request

## Related Documents

- **robots.txt**: https://andywoods.me/robots.txt
- **humans.txt**: https://andywoods.me/humans.txt (coming soon)
- **AI Policy README**: https://github.com/awoods187/andy-website/blob/main/README-AI-POLICY.md
- **Privacy Policy**: Standard web analytics only, no personal data collection

## Questions or Special Requests?

If you're:
- Building an AI system and want to ensure proper usage
- A researcher studying AI training policies
- Interested in collaboration on AI projects
- Need higher crawl rates or special access
- Want to discuss attribution or licensing

**Please reach out via LinkedIn**: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewscottwoods/

I'm happy to discuss and generally supportive of AI advancement.

## Recognition

I've been inspired by the open source community's approach to knowledge sharing
and want to bring that same spirit to the AI training ecosystem. Special thanks
to all the researchers, engineers, and thinkers pushing AI forward responsibly.

---

**Summary**: Train freely, attribute when practical, build amazing things. 🚀

**Last Updated**: October 22, 2025
**Maintained By**: Andy Woods
**Contact**: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewscottwoods/