Contributors are expected to understand, review, test, and, where appropriate, modify AI-assisted output before incorporating it into Debian. Blindly accepting or uploading AI-generated material without appropriate human review is inconsistent with Debian's established development practices. We [encourage] our contributors to disclose whether a contribution was made with AI [assistance], but do not require them to do so.

This is disappointing.. It would have been good to have at least one major distro that was AI free

This is a very hard decision to reverse out of if it turns out to be a problem in a few years

It's pretty much the same policy as the Linux kernel, but still disappointing.

I've been dumping things left and right as they decide Claude is their buddy, and that won't stop because the same idiots who dropped decent init systems for that RedHat tech bro's mess decided not to block it.

That's very Linus of them:

The mass-extinction causing orphan-crushing torment nexus is a tool, just like other tools we use. And it’s clearly a useful one.

There are other questions around it, like if we should be complicit in killing billions of people, and making more than 50% of genera go extinct, via its CO2e releases and water use, but “is it useful” is no longer one of those questions.

The Debian project has been and will continue to be about the technology.

Sure, the people who use it is important and often a very motivating part of the project, but in the end that’s a side benefit, not the point of the project.

In the Debian community we do open source because it results in better technology, not because of ethical reasons.

And so we make decisions primarily based on technical merit. Not fear of causing a mass extinction.

/s

I trust their judgement here. I hope this is the right call.

Former Debian Project Leader Lucas Nussbaum expressed regret on the results of the vote, writing: "On a very personal note, I regret that the winning option does not acknowledge all the legitimate concerns around AI: environmental impact, copyright and licensing uncertainty, the health of Free Software communities, and the strain of aggressive scraping on the open web."

It's worth looking at the full results

Deeply disappointing. I was hoping it would be a refuge from AI infection.

IMHO: They talk about having it go through the exact same due diligence as normal contribs and a human has to be responsible. I think it's an acceptable compromise.

At first I was afraid that they would allow for an irresponsible use. But no, they explicitly say "responsible", so that danger is no more. I'm very much relieved.

Also they explicitly mention that humans will remain accountable. Not Nature, or Fate, or the gods; mark that. Good thinking there!

Problems solved.

I'd expect this from Ubuntu but I was hoping for better from Debian... You know... Being as their whole shtick is stability.

Alright, what are the alternatives folks?

Gentoo? Gentoo!

(But I'll keep watch to see of they don't revert course because "the models are now too powerful", since it is a policy from 2024)

The policy

Gentoo Council has voted on 2024-04-14 on the following policy:

It is expressly forbidden to contribute to Gentoo any content that has been created with the assistance of Natural Language Processing artificial intelligence tools. This motion can be revisited, should a case be made for such a tool that does not pose copyright, ethical and quality concerns.

This policy affects Gentoo contributions and the official Gentoo projects. It does not prohibit adding packages for AI-related software or software that is being developed with the help of such tools upstream.

https://wiki.gentoo.org/wiki/Project:Council/AI_policy

disclose whether a contribution was made with AI but do not require them to do so

How is that good? "You should, but if you don't .... nothing happens"

responsible use

Completely subjective and therefore absolutely meaningless when setting up rules/guidelines

"Responsible use of AI"? Is that a joke? There is no such a thing as responsible use of AI. Responsible people would refuse to use AI.

But anyway, Linux is already AI. Sticking to any one of those BSDs is the only way out.

Get ready for the ISO to double in size

It's hard to be upset. I'm not a Debian maintainer, or even someone paid to program. But here a group of people got together and said yes to allowing AI. I feel like on some level you have to accept that answer. I'm curious why they made that decision I guess.