Responsible Use of the Rudolf Steiner Archive
July 13, 2025
The Rudolf Steiner Archive exists to preserve, share, and make accessible the life work of Rudolf Steiner for the benefit of all. This mission is grounded in the ideals of spiritual freedom, open learning, and mutual respect. As technology evolves, we recognize that new methods—particularly involving artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning—are being used to interact with online resources like ours.
We welcome respectful engagement with our archive and encourage those who benefit from it to support its continued vitality. However, to ensure our content is used in a way that aligns with our mission and capacity, we have established specific Terms of Service that include our requirements for use of our Services for all purposes including research, teaching, automated access and the use of our content in AI-related applications. Your use of this website constitutes your agreement to these Terms.
✦ Attribution and Support
If you are using material from the Rudolf Steiner Archive—whether for personal study, public dissemination, or integration into software or educational tools—we kindly ask that you:
- Clearly attribute the Rudolf Steiner Archive as the source of the information.
- Link to the document on rsarchive.org so others may access the original context and explore further.
- Avoid representing or implying that we endorse or are affiliated with your use of the content unless you obtain our express permission.
- Consider making a donation to support the work of the Archive and the continued digitization and stewardship of Rudolf Steiner’s legacy.
If you or your organization are benefiting financially from the use of our Services (e.g., by receiving donations, dues, or other fees paid) consider donating a reasonable percentage of profits.
Every contribution helps sustain this freely accessible treasure. You can donate by mailing us a check, direct funds transfer, or online here.
✦ AI and Automated Access: Our Policies
The Rudolf Steiner Archive is not a dataset—it is a living collection of spiritual, philosophical, and cultural contributions. As such, we take seriously how it is used by automated systems.
❖ Prohibition on AI Model Training Without Permission
Use of our content—whether through direct scraping, data mining, or other automated means—for the training of AI models (such as large language models or machine learning systems) is strictly prohibited without prior, express, written permission from Steiner Online Library (SOL).
This includes:
- Any form of automated scraping or downloading of the content for inclusion in AI datasets.
- Text and data mining (TDM) for model input or derivative system creation.
We ask that developers and organizations interested in such uses contact us first to discuss collaborative or ethical licensing options.
❖ Automated Access and Robots.txt Compliance
- All automated systems (including bots, scrapers, and crawlers) must comply with the directives in our robots.txt file.
- Disallow directives within that file clearly prohibit access to specified parts of the site for any purpose— including AI training, data harvesting, or similar tasks.
- Failure to adhere to these directives constitutes a violation of our Terms of Service.
❖ Rate Limiting and Respect for Our Infrastructure
To ensure a stable and fair experience for all human users, we enforce a rate limit of one request per second per IP address or user.
Activity exceeding this rate may result in:
- Temporary or permanent blocking of access
- Investigation or legal recourse in cases of sustained abuse
We rely on this policy not just to protect our servers, but to preserve the contemplative, non-intrusive spirit of this site and its community.
✦ In Closing
We believe that Rudolf Steiner’s works are not merely content to be processed—they are spiritual impulses meant to awaken the human being. As stewards of these texts, we are committed to ensuring their respectful use.
If you are a developer, educator, researcher, or organization interested in working with the Rudolf Steiner Archive in ways not explicitly allowed in our Terms, please reach out. We are open to collaboration, especially when aligned with our educational and spiritual values.
Let us move forward not just in technological capability, but in conscious responsibility.
With gratitude and goodwill,
The Rudolf Steiner Archive Team