The distro’s new AI policy says it ‘neither endorses nor prohibits the use of generative AI tools.’
The distro’s new AI policy says it ‘neither endorses nor prohibits the use of generative AI tools.’
Debian voted to allow developers to use AI tools in their contributions to the Linux distribution’s “development, maintenance, [and] documentation.” Thenew policy on AIacknowledges that “responsible” use of AI can improve developers’ productivity, and goes on to say, “generative AI is neither exempt from nor subject to special rules beyond the standards already expected of Debian contributors.”
The project’s voting developers considered several other proposals on how to handle AI, including some that would have banned contributions made using AI tools. AsIt’s FOSSreports, some users and contributors aren’t happy with the policy, including onecontributor who says he’s quittingand “no longer interested in anything coming from Debian.” Earlier this year, Ubuntu developer Canonicalfaced similar backlashover its own stance on AI.
While Debian won’t require contributors to disclose when they use AI, they’re still responsible for anything they submit using AI tools:
The Debian Project nevertheless expects that all contributions submitted to Debian, regardless of how and with which tools they were produced, satisfy the same standards of quality, correctness, maintainability, and legal compliance. The use of a generative AI tool does not diminish the contributor’s responsibility for the work they submit. Contributors are expected to understand, review, test, and, where appropriate, modify AI-assisted output be…