elementary OS added a Generative AI Policy to its contributor guide that bars contributions generated by large language models and chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek and Devin, covering code, documentation, issues and artwork, and explicitly forbidding the use of AI to write pull request descriptions. The project cites the negative effect of AI content on quality, legal complications including the inability to claim copyright and to ensure others’ licensing and copyright were not violated, and ethical concerns over intellectual property theft, environmental impact and the devaluing of labor. A narrow exception permits dedicated machine translation tools for turning issues, discussions and comments into English, and the policy says the project cannot support anything that relies on AI output. The ban drew criticism from Basecamp creator David Heinemeier Hansson, who called the stance Luddism, and it joins a growing set of AI contribution rules from projects including COSMIC, LLVM and Flathub.
elementary OS bans AI-generated code, docs, issues and artwork
elementary OS added a Generative AI Policy to its contributor guide that bars contributions generated by large language models and chatbots such as ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, DeepSeek and Devin, covering code, documentation, issues and artwork, and explicitly forbidding the use of AI to write pull request descriptions. The project cites the negative effect of AI content on quality, legal complications including the inability to claim copyright and to ensure others' licensing and copyright were not violated, and ethical concerns over intellectual property theft, environmental impact and the devaluing of labor. A narrow exception permits dedicated machine translation tools for turning issues, discussions and comments into English, and the policy says the project cannot support anything that relies on AI output. The ban drew criticism from Basecamp creator David Heinemeier Hansson, who called the stance Luddism, and it joins a growing set of AI contribution rules from projects including COSMIC, LLVM and Flathub.
Source: Elementary