Subject: Re: [RFC/PATCH] SubmittingPatches: forbid use of genAI to generate changes

From: Collin Funk <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 30 Jun 2025 14:23:34 -0700

Hi all,

"brian m. carlson" <[email-masked]> writes:

> I think this seems prudent given the fact that there are 181 signatories
> to the Berne Convention and even if the courts rule that the use of
> generative AI is acceptable in one country (say, the United States), it
> isn't clear that that will mean anything in other countries (such as
> Canada).  Considering that there's ongoing litigation and quite a bit of
> legal uncertainty, as well as substantial pushback on generative AI from
> the open source community, this approach seems like it's in the best
> interests of the project at the moment[0].  We can always reconsider in
> the future if need be.

I agree. It feels unsafe given the lack of legislation and lack of case
law.

One thing, though:

>> +Hence, the project asks that contributors refrain from using AI content
>> +generators on changes that are submitted to the project.
>> +Contributions in which use of AI is either known or suspected may not
>> +be accepted.

This feels more like a suggestion than a requirement. Shouldn't we
explicitly prohibit it? If we truly are worried about the
copyright-ability of its output.

Collin