HCI Constitution & Governance Charter

Internal — summary only. HCI’s founding and governance documents are not published in full.

Constitution (Articles of Association)

Human Continuity Institute MTÜ is constituted as a non-profit association (mittetulundusühing) under Estonian law, operating as a public-benefit organisation: no income or assets may be used to generate profit for members, founders, or board members. Its stated mission is to promote the ethical, safe, and human-centred development and governance of AI, while preserving human knowledge, cultural memory, and digital legacy.

The Articles set out HCI’s founding principles (human-centred AI, interdisciplinary independence, transparency and accountability, international cooperation, open science), its permitted objectives and activities (research, education, policy advice, standard-setting, the Ethical AI Review service, and flagship programmes including the Digital DNA project and the Continuity Archive), and its membership categories (Founding, Full, Institutional, Honorary).

Governance Charter

The Governance Charter supplements the Articles by defining HCI’s internal governance: a General Assembly, Management Board, Scientific Advisory Council, and Ethics Committee. It sets leadership standards for board members — independence, conflict-of-interest avoidance, confidentiality — and a decision-making process based on consensus or majority vote. It also commits the Board to financial oversight, risk management, keeping scientific conclusions independent of donors and sponsors, and reviewing the Charter itself at least every three years.

Why we reference it

Where an Ethical Review touches on an organisation’s own governance — board oversight, conflict-of-interest handling, decision-making process — we hold ourselves to the same standard we’re assessing. These documents are what that standard is.

Primary source: internal governing documents — HCI intellectual property, not published in full.