Re: ballot option: LLM usage accellerates the destruction of our ecosystem (planet earth) and that is a deal-breaker

Sruthi Chandran <[email protected]> Wed, 12 Aug 2026 13:53:43 -0300
Newsgroups	gmane.linux.debian.devel.vote
Message-ID	<[email protected]>
On 12/08/26 12:12, Holger Levsen wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I'm proposing the following ballot option forhttps://www.debian.org/vote/2026/vote_002
> and thus I'm searching seconds for it.
>
> (And yes, I'm well aware that this text condemns LLM usage and yet acknowledges
> it... similar to many of us condemning the effects of using planes or cars while
> occasionaly doing so ourselves.)
>
>
>
> ---- start ballot proposal ----
>
> title: LLM usage accellerates the destruction of our ecosystem (planet earth)
>         and that is a deal-breaker
>
>
>
> Using its power under Constitution section 4.1(5), the Project issues the
> following statement describing its current position regarding the use of LLM
> (Large Language Models) within Debian.
>
> We don't have a concern with the LLM _technology_ as such: it's just maths and
> enough training material, which outputs a very large set of numbers that we can
> use to infer new material from existing material. But we cannot talk about the
> LLM technology without talking about who is pushing for its usage, who is doing
> the training and how, what effect those have on our limited resources, and what
> are the economical and political motives of these.
>
> Foremost we don't understand how anyone can agree that global LLM usage
> accellerates the destruction of our ecosystem, planet earth, and not feel like
> that is a deal-breaker.
>
> To often the only response we've seen to this point was that other activities
> are also bad (some even worse) for the climate. How is this even an argument?
> The planet is burning, we should try to stop that as much and as fast as we can!
> If others aren't stopping, isn't that even more reason to compensate for their
> irresponsible actions?
>
> And while we're on that point: All of our users live on this planet, so
> protecting this planet is a matter of life and death for all of us. In other
> words, caring about something as big as climate change during our Debian work is
> self evident.
>
> Debian recognizes that LLM *also* raise significant ethical, legal, technical,
> and social concerns. These include questions relating to copyright and
> licensing, privacy, the provenance and quality of generated material, the health
> of Free Software communities, and the long-term consequences of widespread
> reliance on LLM-generated content.
>
> That said, we would like to emphasize that we condemn LLM (resource) usage but
> not LLM users. Fight the game, but not the players.
>
> We also acknowledge that LLM usage can be hard if not impossible to detect and
> that Debian as a distribution cannot really impose LLM policies on other
> projects we package and distribute. Therefore this text is just a position
> statement. This said however, we appreciate the disclosure of LLM usage.
>
> Accordingly, Debian encourages contributors to avoid the use of LLM where
> practical and to prefer human authorship, collaboration, and technical
> understanding over LLM-generated output.
>
> At the same time, Debian has long relied on the judgment and responsibility of
> its contributors rather than prescribing individual workflows. Contributors
> remain responsible for everything they submit, irrespective of the tools used in
> preparing a contribution. Existing Debian standards regarding quality,
> correctness, licensing, and legal compliance continue to apply.
>
> The Debian project has always recognized the commitment and professionalism of
> its members. All contributions are under the responsibility of the Debian
> Contributor making it, no matter the technology they have behind. We trust all
> Debian Developers, Maintainers and Contributors will continue to uphold the high
> quality values that have distinguished our project from its onset.
>
> Please keep being excellent to each other and the only planet we have.
I second this (with or without typo fixes)
>
>
> ---- end ballot proposal ----
>
> with thanks to Didier 'OdyX' Raboud forhttps://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2026/08/msg00101.html
> and Bas Wijnen forhttps://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2026/08/msg00118.html
> and Tobias Frost forhttps://lists.debian.org/debian-vote/2026/07/msg00343.html
>
> Obviously written without the help of LLM.
>
>
> --
> cheers,
>          Holger
>
>   ⢀⣴⠾⠻⢶⣦⠀
>   ⣾⠁⢠⠒⠀⣿⡁  holger@(debian|reproducible-builds|layer-acht).org
>   ⢿⡄⠘⠷⠚⠋⠀  OpenPGP: B8BF54137B09D35CF026FE9D 091AB856069AAA1C
>   ⠈⠳⣄
>
> Which Large Language Model do you prefer? The one that claims trans people don’t
> exist or the one that doesn’t want to talk about Tian'anmen Square in 1989?
> (@[email protected])
>
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