Feven
@feven
At the UN Open Source Conference, I joined a discussion on how to help beginners start contributing to open source. Midway through, I asked "Will AI lower barriers to OSS contributions, and how are projects handling these influxes?" The responses were unexpectedly blunt:
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Feven
@feven
On the surface, the promise of AI for open source is exciting: AI may lower the barrier for contributions from beginners and non-technical folks who were previously blocked by high technical barriers. But there’s a catch...
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Feven
@feven
The maintainers I talked to were pretty clear about this: "AI will change everything, but we're not close to ready." They lack the processes and mechanisms to verify that AI generated code isn't: → Unknowingly malicious → Full of security vulnerabilities → A literal ticking time bomb
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Feven
@feven
so their current stop gap has been: explicit policies in their code of conduct or contribution guidelines that AI generated PRs are given low to zero acceptance rates
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Feven
@feven
The current stance is: short term and long term security > minor contributions by beginner / non technical contributors using AI tools
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Feven
@feven
But since AI is not going anywhere anytime soon... OSS projects should learn to deal with this now rather than later I suggested: what if we had standardized contribution guidelines for AI assisted code?
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Feven
@feven
This could help: → First time contributors understand what's expected when using AI tools → Give long term maintainers a clear review process and framework → Projects maintain security while increasing accessibility
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Feven
@feven
Can there be a middle path forward that enables first time contributors using AI while maintaining project integrity and security? What are some frameworks that could work for both? Would love to hear from everyone!
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