Re: A "middle ground" Proposal for LLM policy
[email protected] Mon, 3 Aug 2026 09:48:38 -0400
| Newsgroups | gmane.linux.debian.devel.project |
|---|---|
| Message-ID | <[email protected]> |
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On Monday, August 03, 2026 07:14:01 AM Gerardo Ballabio wrote:
> (Replying to -vote because that's where the discussion is taking
> place. While non-DDs can't vote, the discussion is open to everyone
> and all constructive contributions are welcome. At least that's how I
> understand it.)
> Other concerns are outside the scope of their policy and not addressed
> at all: the reliability and quality of AI-generated contributions, the
> negative effect on human ability to understand the codebase, the
> burden that a flood of AI-generated patches place on maintainers, the
> environmental impact of running big LLM models, and so on.
As a non-(code)contributor, from the peanut gallery:
I don't disagree that those are valid concerns, but I would point out that:
* AI work can (and should, imho) be supervised / vetted by a human.
* AI can be asked to explain the codebase (and patches) multiple times if
necessary (I mean to dig deeper) so a human can understand and vet the code
base and patches
* AI can be asked to improve the documentation (by asking (prompting)
multiple times) (Aside: I'm going to experiment with asking for some "literate
programming" style documentation in programs I plan to get written -- unlikely
they'd get into Debian in any way.)
Environment: yes, that is a big issue, don't plan to discuss my thoughts here.
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<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">On Monday, August 03, 2026 07:14:01 AM Gerardo Ballabio wrote:</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> (Replying to -vote because that's where the discussion is taking</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> place. While non-DDs can't vote, the discussion is open to everyone</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> and all constructive contributions are welcome. At least that's how I</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> understand it.)</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> Other concerns are outside the scope of their policy and not addressed</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> at all: the reliability and quality of AI-generated contributions, the</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> negative effect on human ability to understand the codebase, the</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> burden that a flood of AI-generated patches place on maintainers, the</p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">> environmental impact of running big LLM models, and so on.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">As a non-(code)contributor, from the peanut gallery:</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">I don't disagree that those are valid concerns, but I would point out that:</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> * AI work can (and should, imho) be supervised / vetted by a human.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> * AI can be asked to explain the codebase (and patches) multiple times if necessary (I mean to dig deeper) so a human can understand and vet the code base and patches</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;"> * AI can be asked to improve the documentation (by asking (prompting) multiple times) (Aside: I'm going to experiment with asking for some "literate programming" style documentation in programs I plan to get written -- unlikely they'd get into Debian in any way.) </p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
<p style=" margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; -qt-user-state:0;">Environment: yes, that is a big issue, don't plan to discuss my thoughts here.</p>
<p style="-qt-paragraph-type:empty; margin-top:0px; margin-bottom:0px; margin-left:0px; margin-right:0px; -qt-block-indent:0; text-indent:0px; "> </p>
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