Policies and Code of Conduct

1. Purpose

Syria AI Foundation ("SAIF") is committed to building trusted local and regional capability in applied artificial intelligence through research, product incubation, training and capability-building, standards-oriented work, and institutional partnerships.

This Policies and Code of Conduct document sets the basic rules that apply to everyone who works with, represents, supports, volunteers with, trains through, contracts with, or contributes to SAIF. It is intended to protect the integrity of SAIF's work, the safety and dignity of all participants, the confidentiality of institutional information, the responsible use of data and AI systems, and the intellectual property created through SAIF activities.

By working with SAIF, submitting an intake form, signing an agreement, joining a program, contributing materials, or participating in a SAIF activity, each person confirms that they have read, understood, and agreed to comply with this document, subject to any additional written agreement signed with SAIF.

2. Scope

This policy applies to all SAIF founders, board members, employees, volunteers, trainers, consultants, advisors, researchers, contractors, fellows, interns, partners, service providers, program participants, and any other person or organization acting on behalf of or in cooperation with SAIF.

For the purposes of this document, these persons and organizations are referred to as "Covered Persons."

This policy applies to activities conducted in person, online, through SAIF systems, through third-party platforms, during training sessions, workshops, research activities, product development, events, meetings, communications, and any other activity connected to SAIF.

3. Core Conduct Standards

All Covered Persons must act with honesty, professionalism, respect, and care. They are expected to:

• act in good faith and in the best interests of SAIF's mission;
• respect the dignity, safety, privacy, and rights of others;
• comply with applicable laws, regulations, and SAIF policies;
• avoid conduct that could harm SAIF, its beneficiaries, partners, learners, researchers, institutional stakeholders, or the public;
• use SAIF resources only for authorized institutional purposes;
• avoid misrepresentation, dishonesty, abuse of position, or personal exploitation of SAIF activities;
• communicate in a respectful and professional manner;
• respect cultural, social, linguistic, and institutional sensitivities;
• support a serious, credible, non-hype, and responsible approach to artificial intelligence.

4. Respect, Non-Discrimination, and Safe Environment

SAIF does not tolerate harassment, discrimination, bullying, intimidation, exploitation, retaliation, abusive language, or unsafe conduct.

All Covered Persons must treat others fairly and respectfully regardless of background, gender, age, religion, ethnicity, disability, nationality, social status, political opinion, professional level, or personal circumstances.

Where SAIF activities involve youth, students, vulnerable persons, or participants in sensitive contexts, Covered Persons must apply heightened care and must follow any additional safeguarding instructions provided by SAIF.

5. Confidentiality

Covered Persons may receive or access confidential information during their work with SAIF. Confidential information includes, but is not limited to:

• internal plans, strategies, documents, budgets, proposals, communications, and decisions;
• research ideas, product concepts, technical designs, workflows, models, prompts, code, datasets, documentation, and prototypes;
• information about partners, donors, government entities, companies, trainers, volunteers, advisors, researchers, learners, and program participants;
• personal data, sensitive data, unpublished research, institutional correspondence, meeting notes, recordings, credentials, passwords, access keys, and system information;
• any information marked confidential or reasonably understood to be confidential.

Covered Persons must not disclose, copy, publish, forward, upload, or use confidential information except for authorized SAIF purposes. This obligation continues after the end of the relationship with SAIF.

6. Data Protection and Privacy

SAIF expects all Covered Persons to handle personal data, institutional data, research data, and technical data responsibly.

Covered Persons must:

• collect only the information needed for an authorized SAIF purpose;
• use data only for the purpose for which it was collected or authorized;
• avoid unnecessary sharing of personal or sensitive information;
• store and transmit data securely;
• respect access controls and confidentiality restrictions;
• immediately report any actual or suspected data breach, unauthorized access, accidental disclosure, or loss of information;
• avoid using personal, learner, participant, partner, or institutional data in public AI tools or third-party services unless expressly approved by SAIF.

No Covered Person may export, scrape, reuse, publish, sell, transfer, or independently analyze SAIF data for personal, commercial, academic, political, or external purposes without written authorization from SAIF.

7. Responsible Use of AI Systems

SAIF's work involves artificial intelligence, research, software, automation, data, and related tools. Covered Persons must use AI systems responsibly, safely, and transparently.

Covered Persons must not:

• use AI systems to generate deceptive, harmful, discriminatory, unlawful, exploitative, or misleading content;
• upload confidential SAIF information, personal data, sensitive data, partner information, or unpublished materials into unauthorized AI tools;
• present AI-generated work as verified fact without appropriate review;
• misrepresent the capabilities, limitations, origin, or reliability of any AI system;
• use AI tools in ways that violate law, intellectual property rights, privacy rights, security obligations, or SAIF policies.

Where AI tools are used in SAIF work, Covered Persons remain responsible for reviewing, verifying, and appropriately disclosing AI-assisted outputs when required by SAIF or by the context of the work.

8. Intellectual Property and Work Product

All work created, developed, written, designed, produced, researched, coded, trained, documented, improved, or contributed by a Covered Person within the scope of their relationship with SAIF, or using SAIF resources, information, systems, data, instructions, programs, partnerships, or opportunities, belongs to SAIF unless otherwise agreed in writing.

This includes, but is not limited to:

• reports, studies, policies, curricula, training materials, presentations, manuals, and educational content;
• software, source code, scripts, workflows, APIs, databases, datasets, data schemas, models, prompts, agents, automations, system designs, technical documentation, and product concepts;
• research outputs, inventions, discoveries, methods, processes, prototypes, tools, benchmarks, standards materials, and technical improvements;
• designs, media, graphics, videos, photographs, audio, brand materials, website content, social media content, and communications materials;
• proposals, institutional documents, implementation plans, and advisory materials.

To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, each Covered Person assigns to SAIF all rights, title, and interest in such work product, including economic rights, intellectual property rights, copyright, patent rights, database rights, trade secret rights, know-how, and related rights.

Covered Persons must sign any additional documents reasonably requested by SAIF to confirm, register, protect, transfer, or enforce SAIF's rights in such work product.

9. Pre-Existing Materials

If a Covered Person uses any pre-existing material, tool, code, dataset, design, document, methodology, model, prompt, software, open-source component, or third-party intellectual property in SAIF work, they must disclose this to SAIF before use.

Pre-existing materials remain the property of their original owner. However, by including or using them in SAIF work, the Covered Person confirms that:

• they have the right to use them;
• their use does not violate any third-party rights or license obligations;
• their inclusion does not restrict SAIF's ability to use, modify, publish, distribute, commercialize, license, or continue the relevant work, unless SAIF has approved such restriction in writing.

Where necessary, the Covered Person grants SAIF a perpetual, international, royalty-free, transferable, sublicensable license to use, reproduce, adapt, modify, publish, distribute, display, perform, integrate, and otherwise exploit any pre-existing material included in SAIF work, to the extent needed for SAIF's institutional, research, educational, operational, and product purposes.

10. Open Source and Third-Party Materials

Covered Persons must not introduce open-source code, datasets, model weights, external tools, licensed content, or third-party materials into SAIF projects without ensuring that the applicable license terms are compatible with SAIF's intended use.

Materials subject to restrictive, viral, non-commercial, attribution-heavy, privacy-sensitive, or unclear licensing must be reviewed before use.

Covered Persons must preserve required notices, license files, attribution statements, and usage restrictions where applicable.

11. Publications, Attribution, and Public Credit

SAIF may, at its discretion, credit contributors, volunteers, researchers, trainers, partners, or team members for their contribution.

However, no Covered Person may independently publish, announce, present, claim authorship over, represent, or publicly disclose SAIF work, research, products, datasets, software, institutional materials, partner work, or confidential activities without prior written approval from SAIF.

Academic or professional attribution may be agreed separately in writing, especially for research publications, public reports, open-source releases, training programs, or jointly developed materials.

12. Conflicts of Interest

Covered Persons must avoid actual, potential, or perceived conflicts of interest.

A conflict of interest may arise where a person's personal, financial, professional, family, political, institutional, or external interests could influence, or appear to influence, their duties toward SAIF.

Covered Persons must promptly disclose any conflict of interest to SAIF, including:

• working with a competing or related organization;
• having a financial interest in a vendor, partner, client, or project;
• using SAIF opportunities for personal gain;
• recommending relatives, friends, or affiliated entities without disclosure;
• accepting gifts, favors, payments, or benefits that could influence decisions.

SAIF may require the person to withdraw from a decision, activity, project, or relationship where a conflict exists.

13. Anti-Bribery, Gifts, and Improper Benefits

Covered Persons must not offer, request, accept, promise, or receive bribes, kickbacks, secret commissions, improper payments, inappropriate gifts, or personal benefits in connection with SAIF work.

Reasonable symbolic gifts or hospitality may be acceptable only where lawful, modest, transparent, culturally appropriate, and not intended to influence a decision. Any gift or benefit that may create a conflict of interest must be disclosed to SAIF.

14. Use of SAIF Name, Brand, and Resources

Covered Persons may not use SAIF's name, logo, brand identity, domain names, social media accounts, documents, templates, email accounts, systems, credentials, equipment, funds, data, or institutional relationships except for authorized SAIF purposes.

No person may represent themselves as speaking on behalf of SAIF, entering into commitments for SAIF, approving partnerships, accepting funds, making public statements, or binding SAIF unless expressly authorized.

SAIF resources must be used carefully, securely, and only for legitimate institutional purposes.

15. Communications and Public Statements

Covered Persons must not make public statements, media comments, social media posts, interviews, announcements, publications, or partner communications on behalf of SAIF without authorization.

When authorized to communicate externally, Covered Persons must use accurate, measured, respectful, and institutionally appropriate language. They must avoid exaggerated claims, misleading statements, political misuse, unauthorized commitments, or disclosure of confidential information.

16. Records, Documentation, and Transparency

Covered Persons must maintain accurate records for SAIF-related work, including attendance, deliverables, expenses, approvals, participant information, research notes, technical documentation, or program records where required.

No Covered Person may falsify records, conceal material information, delete institutional records without authorization, or misrepresent work completed.

17. Reporting Violations

Covered Persons must report suspected violations of this policy, including misconduct, harassment, discrimination, fraud, bribery, conflict of interest, data misuse, confidentiality breach, intellectual property misuse, security incident, or unsafe conduct.

Reports may be submitted to:

• Email: [Insert SAIF reporting email]
• Responsible person / office: [Insert role or committee]

SAIF will treat reports seriously and will seek to protect confidentiality to the extent reasonably possible.

18. Protection Against Retaliation

SAIF does not tolerate retaliation against any person who reports a concern in good faith, cooperates with a review, or refuses to participate in improper conduct.

Retaliation may include threats, exclusion, intimidation, dismissal from activities, reputational harm, harassment, or negative treatment because a person raised a concern.

19. Consequences of Violation

Violation of this policy may result in appropriate action, including warning, removal from an activity, termination of volunteer or contractual relationship, cancellation of access, return of materials, deletion of unauthorized copies, reporting to relevant authorities where required, and legal action where appropriate.

SAIF may act immediately where there is serious misconduct, risk to safety, breach of confidentiality, misuse of data, misuse of intellectual property, fraud, unlawful conduct, or reputational harm.

20. Relationship to Signed Agreements

This policy applies in addition to any volunteer agreement, employment agreement, consultant agreement, trainer agreement, research agreement, partner agreement, non-disclosure agreement, data protection undertaking, intellectual property assignment, or other written agreement with SAIF.

Where a signed agreement includes stricter or more specific obligations, the signed agreement applies in addition to this policy.

21. Acknowledgment

By engaging with SAIF, submitting an intake form, participating in a program, volunteering, providing services, contributing work, or signing an agreement with SAIF, each Covered Person confirms that they have read, understood, and agreed to comply with these Policies and Code of Conduct.