Re: [MAINTAINERS SUMMIT] Other LLM-related topics - tags, newcomers, etc

On Fri, 2026-07-17 at 11:53 -0400, Liam R. Howlett wrote:
> On 26/07/17 07:57AM, James Bottomley wrote:
> > On Thu, 2026-07-16 at 16:23 -0400, Liam R. Howlett wrote:
[...]
> > > There are a few classes of LLM users, but as more and more people
> > > are using LLM, the usefulness of this tag is converging on zero.
> >=20
> > It's not just about whether you find it useful, it's also about
> > whether it has utility to the project history.=C2=A0 Remember the
> > purpose of the original signed-off-by tag was to track copyright
> > origin in case of another SCO like allegation.=C2=A0 Given the current
> > US Copyright position on generative AI
> >=20
> > https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2025/1060.html
> >=20
> > Whether AI is used or not affects the copyright status of the
> > patch. Therefore it is a fairly vital piece of information to
> > preserve, even if the current advice changes over time.
> >=20
>=20
> I think this supports the fact that the usefulness of the tag is
> going to zero, at least in the current form.. but I'm not a lawyer.

From a what use is it to me point of view, possibly.  I'm more looking
at it as being we need a permanent record of this in the git tree.

> On the mm side of thing, we have sashiko looking at things and
> getting pointed to the reports, so that means all mm code is getting
> inspected by an AI.=C2=A0 Adding a tag specifying that is useless noise,
> and certainly does not affect the copyright according to your link.

Agreed, we only really need to know if AI helped write the code, not
really if it helped discover the problem (although giving it a reported
by credit would be fine, especially since 0day keeps prodding for one).

> Are you thinking that, at some point a specific AI might be ruled a
> copyright violation and we will need to audit the commits?

I'm not taking any specific view, I'm just noting that the issue isn't
settled and if the house of cards where everyone funds everyone else's
tokens collapses and AI starts to try to find another business model,
there's a well worn one trying to monetize copyrights ... particularly
if you have deep pockets to buy legislation ...

But the point is that whatever happens (even if nothing does) we'd have
tags in the code base to identify most of the affected code.

Regards,

James