We are a commons that builds.
Aitele is a hybrid institution of researchers who would rather work on the hardest version of a problem than the most fundable one — because the hardest problems, once solved, become the most valuable technology and the strongest businesses. We carry that work the whole way: from research, to deployed technology, to the ventures the commons builds and shares in. The rest of this page is how we do that, written plainly.
One rule, visible, uniform.
Every piece of intellectual property produced by a fellow under Aitele affiliation is co-owned: sixty percent to the fellow, forty percent to the commons. This applies to papers, code, models, processes, designs, and the ventures that grow from them. It applies whether the fellow brought the problem in or picked it up from the commons.
There are no tiers. There are no private exceptions. There is no paperwork to negotiate when a line of research begins to look like something. The split is the split, and every fellow sees the same document every other fellow sees.
In exchange for the commons' forty percent, Aitele provides affiliation, compute, state-of-the-art AI tooling, editorial and commercialization support, and — most importantly — a peer group whose standards are higher than anywhere the fellow would otherwise be working.
The fellow's sixty percent is their own. They may license it, build on it, spin it out, or leave it on the shelf. The commons holds no veto.
The person who did the work retains majority. The commons does not overreach.
Enough to sustain infrastructure, AI tooling, and the selection process in perpetuity.
What governs the commons, when no one is looking.
- I
Selectivity is the product.
We do not hire. We select. The rarity of a fellowship is what makes it worth something — to the fellow, to the commons, and to the world.
- II
Curiosity over compensation.
Fellows are chosen for the shape of their questions. Those who would trade a hard problem for a safer paycheck will not find us compelling, and that is by design.
- III
Shared ownership, shared upside.
Every piece of work produced under Aitele affiliation is co-owned: 60% to the fellow, 40% to the commons. Every downstream dollar flows through that compact.
- IV
Research converted, not shelved.
We measure ourselves not by papers alone but by what crosses the threshold into deployed technology that serves someone who is not a researcher.
- V
A commons that builds.
Solving the hardest problem creates real technology — and, often, a real business. The commons carries the work from research to deployed technology to ventures, owned in common and shared with its fellows. Governance, revenue, and infrastructure serve that — not the other way around.
Hybrid by design, deliberate by habit.
Hybrid, by design.
Aitele is a hybrid commons: Fellows work where they do their best work, and we come together in person when it counts — for intensives, reviews, and the annual convening. The work is distributed; the standards are not.
Selection over recruitment.
We do not publish open roles. We publish open problems, and we meet the people the problems attract.
Frontier tooling, always.
Fellows are resourced with state-of-the-art AI (Claude Opus Max, among others), compute credits, and the infrastructure serious research needs.
Output is the measure.
Papers, preprints, code, and shipped technology. We are skeptical of activity without artifact.
Public work, by default.
Research is open unless there is a contractually compelling reason not to be. The compact covers the rare exceptions.
Ventures, not employment.
When a line of work becomes a company, we help spin it out. Fellows become founders; the commons becomes an early backer.