Hello all, Some of us feel that we lack a middle of the road option that differentiates between the output of LLMs entering into Debian, and a Debian contributor consuming the output of LLMs to assist them in work on Debian. I therefore submit the following ballot option.
I realize that there is a large number of options already, but we do have a voting system that is unperturbed by that. While a large number of options might mean extra work for voters, I on balance believe that it is more important that all views are reflected. Thanks to all those who participated in the discussions and gave feedback, and to those who worked on other attempts at middle of the road options reflecting the abovementioned distinction. NB: The proposal uses the term "generative AI" to mean what some other proposals call "LLMs" or just "AI". Several people suggested that I change the term, and while I agree that it's quite suboptimal, I also don't think those two other alternatives are much better. Yet other, shall we say more colorful, alternatives can be nice, but run the risk of not conveying the same meaning to everyone. For better or worse, the term as it stands is at least *understood*. If the ballot option does get enough seconds, I would not object to changing the term to another standard term as part of a minor editorial change. Best, Gard ----- BEGIN BALLOT OPTION ----- # Debian is created by humans ## Preamble This proposal aims to ensure that contributions directly to Debian are created by humans, while at the same time avoiding restrictions on the tools those humans may choose to use when contributing. The proposal deals with *direct* contributions to Debian, including, but not limited to: * Debian packaging * Submissions (messages, bug reports, patches, etc.) to the BTS, Salsa, mailing lists and other Debian platforms * Debian project software * Debian infrastructure * Debian web resources * Documentation and translation added as part of contributing to Debian * Official communication from Debian The proposal does not cover *indirect* contributions, i.e. those originating from upstream works. Generative AI is characterized by producing output of a nature that would ordinarily be produced and consumed by humans. The proposal seeks to restrict this output itself from entering Debian (except possibly indirectly, from upstream). It does not seek to restrict Debian contributors from consuming such output as part of contributing to Debian. ## Rationale Debian has a well-earned reputation for stability. This stability is crucial to its position in the free software ecosystem. It is our belief that a significant part of this stability comes from Debian contributors having mutual understanding, trust and respect for each others' work and precious time. Generative AI tends to come with practical, legal, ethical or ecological concerns that warrant care or extra work that often ends up being borne by people other than those wielding the AI. We believe that this asymmetry between contributors leveraging generative AI to produce material, and those humans who bear that extra care and work, will erode the project's mutual understanding, trust and respect. While Debian has a long-standing tradition of strict rules for what goes into the distribution, it does not typically dictate what tools people use when contributing to the project. With this principle in mind, the proposal does not affect the use of generative AI as an assisitive tool to explore, research, analyze, critique, etc., when contributing. The responsibilities that come with using the output of an AI in such a role is then not transferred onto the wider project in the same problematic way as when the output itself is the contribution. ## Proposal In order to safeguard the project's mutual understanding, trust and respect, we disallow the output of generative AI as direct contributions to Debian. Those who use such tools assistively in their work are reminded to ensure that the resulting contribution is in line with the DFSG and the Social Contract in general. In summary, humans create Debian. ## Acknowledgements This proposal is inspired by GCC's AI Policy [1] and rust-lang's LLM Usage Policy [2]. Its wording is influenced by another ballot option [3]. [1] https://gcc.gnu.org/ai-policy.html [2] https://forge.rust-lang.org/policies/llm-usage.html [3] https://www.debian.org/vote/2026/vote_002#texta ----- END BALLOT OPTION -----
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