What code does is the least intetesting part of it for you?

Idk, AI use doesn’t automatically make something slop just like writing by hand doesn’t automatically make it good.

Open source developers do not have the power to enact change. AI needs regulation which must come from governments.

Definitely agree with a lot of that. Indeed in this era of abundance why do we need to squeeze more and more out of everything.

However computing has been one of the most valuable inventions of all time. A script is usually written to automate a process. If the script doesn’t work, it’s useless. Not all disciplines are the same. The value of the code is what it does.

You can certainly talk about the horrors of AI under capitalism but i don’t think open source developers should have to think about it. I’d rather they make software better for everyone than get tied up thinking about how to solve the impossible.

Yeah but that’s art. Code is very much a means to an end. Code can be artistic i suppose but it does actually have to do something at the end of the day. And if it works it works.

Yeah completely agree with that but i don’t see how capitalism can stop open source. Capitalism runs on open source!

I just don’t know if that’s true. Yes there are vibe coded projects everywhere but most of them can be ignored. They don’t really have a bearing on the popular stable projects. Those projects will continue to be developed and as long as they don’t accept vibe commits the quality won’t go down.

I don’t know how open source could be labelled unsafe when the code is there for everyone to see. Yes Google is trying to lock down Android but that’s not an AI problem, that’s a capitalism problem.

Even then, i can’t see how corporations could kill open source. They can never stop people using their free time to develop code and releasing it under GPL.

How?

Indeed! It’s more inportant than ever to switch to open source software, which is why i dont see the point in placing restrictions on developers.

GPL is a response to copyright laws. If there were no copyright laws we wouldn’t need GPL.

Prohibiton doesn’t work. Regulations need to passed by government bodies not open source developers.

I’m not disputing that AI has severe issues. I think it’s more appropriate for governments to focus on effective regulation than open source developers disallowing useful tools.

You make good points however you can’t stop a person doing something because it goes against your beliefs.

In this case the Debian developers had a vote and the majority agreed that using AI was ok.

I’ve read the post and they still have a code of conduct, they still have standards that they will keep. That’s good enough for me to continue trusting the devs.

Is using AI as bad as child labour?

I don’t believe so. But i don’t believe in copyright laws either. If a developer chooses to use AI it’s their choice.

Obviously best case scenario is they use a local open weights model. I believe this will be more commonplace in a few years.

I think a skilled developer using AI to improve open source software is a case of the ends justifying the means.

Edit: the link you provided highlights the problems with large capitalist corporations owning the compute power and generic AI use by the untrained population more than the issue of skilled developers contributing to open source software.

While these things are a problem i don’t believe a distro should stop contributions just because a developer consulted an LLM.

AI is a tool. You already trust the developers to build an operating system with the tools available.

From the Debian announcement

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 before incorporating it into Debian. Blindly accepting or uploading AI-generated material without appropriate human review is inconsistent with Debian’s established development practices.

It’s quite clear they don’t allow vibe coding. As you say, the kernal itself allows AI contributions in a similar way.

If you’re worried about the ethical aspects of AI then you’ll probably have to move to NetBSD. If you’re only worried about quality this is a non issue.