Code of Conduct

General

Future Caribbean’s Buildathon aims for a collaborative ecosystem for builders, founders, mentors, institutions, and partners. We are committed to a respectful, inclusive, and productive environment for all participants. Every participant is expected to behave professionally and respectfully toward other participants, organizers, judges, mentors, backers, and members of the public they encounter in connection with the event. This applies across video calls, chat, email, social media, and every other channel used in connection with the Buildathon. By participating as an applicant, selected team member, mentor, judge, advisor, or community member, you hereby agree to uphold the following Code of Conduct:

1. Professional Standards and Ethical Conduct

1.1 Integrity and Collaboration

Participants must engage in the “Build in Public” philosophy by sharing workflows and experiments, provided they do not compromise third-party intellectual property or unauthorized sensitive data.

1.2 Zero-Tolerance Policy

Harassment, bullying, or discrimination based on race, gender, religion, age, or disability is strictly prohibited in any forum of the event and may lead to disqualification of any entrant or submission in violation of this policy.

1.3 Professional Integrity

Providing false information during the application or build phase, or attempting to improperly influence judges, is grounds for immediate disqualification.

1.4 Respectful Conduct

Every participant is expected to behave professionally and respectfully toward other participants, organizers, judges, mentors, backers, and members of the public they encounter in connection with the event. This applies across video calls, chat, email, social media, and every other channel used in connection with the event.

2. Prohibited AI Practices

Participants are strictly prohibited from submitting AI Agentic systems utilizing or developed for the following purposes:

2.1 Subliminal Manipulation

Techniques below conscious awareness to distort behavior or exploit psychological weaknesses.

2.2 Exploitation of Vulnerabilities

Exploiting vulnerabilities tied to age, disability, or economic hardship.

2.3 Social Scoring

Classifying individuals based on social behavior or personal characteristics.

2.4 Emotion Recognition

Inferring emotional states in workplace or educational settings.

2.5 Bio-metric Categorization

Inferring sensitive traits such as race, political opinion, or sexual orientation.

2.6 Predictive Policing

Assessing criminal risk based solely on profiling or personality traits.

2.7 Untargeted Scraping

Expanding facial recognition databases via indiscriminate scraping.

2.8 Real-Time Bio-metric ID

Using live bio-metric identification in public spaces, except for narrow, pre-authorized emergencies.

3. Data Privacy and Consumer Rights

3.1 Privacy by Design

Systems must use data minimization principles.

3.2 Protection of SPI

Heightened security for geo-location, genetic/neural data, health info, and government IDs.

3.3 Facilitating User Rights

Allow access, correction, and deletion of personal information.

3.4 Opt-Out Mechanisms

Honor Global Privacy Control (GPC) signals.

3.5 Proactive Risk Reporting

Disclose significant vulnerabilities during the 21-day build period.

4. Automated Decision-Making (ADM) Protections

4.1 Transparency of Logic

Provide plain language explanations of ADM processes.

4.2 Human-in-the-Loop

Allow appeals to human reviewers with authority to overturn outputs.

4.3 Opt-Out of ADM Technology

Users must be able to opt-out unless legally exempt.

4.4 Fail-safe Mechanisms

Document oversight and kill-switch protocols.

5. Risk Management and Transparency

5.1 Risk Assessments

Conduct internal assessments for high-risk tracks.

5.2 Marking Synthetic Content

AI-generated content must be labeled and detectable.

5.3 Disclosure of Interaction

Clearly inform users they are interacting with AI systems.

6. Indemnity and Liability

6.1 Assumption of Risk

Participants are responsible for lawful participation and compliance.

6.2 Third-Party IP

Participants confirm rights to pre-existing code and indemnify organizers.

6.3 Limitation of Liability

In no event shall the Organizers servants and agents be liable for any indirect, incidental, special, consequential, or punitive damages, or for any lost profits, data, or opportunities. Total liability, if any, shall not exceed the amount paid by you to participate (i.e., zero, as there is no fee).

6.4 Compute Misuse

Misuse of NVIDIA H200 compute credits results in forfeiture and disqualification.

6.5 Disrepute Clause

Organizer may disqualify teams bringing the event or sponsors into disrepute.

7. Acknowledgment and Enforcement

Participation in the Buildathon is a privilege. By joining, you commit to our mission to help build a responsible, innovative Caribbean and global AI ecosystem.

This Code of Conduct does not constitute legal advice. Participants are ultimately responsible for their own compliance. Future Caribbean encourages consultation with legal experts for all levels and aspects of the production process.

Report violations confidentially to lily@futurecaribbean.com. Reports will be handled promptly and fairly. Future Caribbean may warn, remove, disqualify, or escalate as deemed necessary by the organizer. Decisions are final, with an emphasis on education where appropriate.

We look forward to building with you.

Future Caribbean Team