David, Thank you for your insights. You’re right, there is no policy there. It’s a work-in-progress, currently summarizing objections to use of AI in open source projects and how some other projects have addressed those objections. To make that clearer I’ve just added the top-level heading "This page is a working draft. There is currently no official policy.”
Regards, John Ralls > On Aug 14, 2026, at 00:31, David T. via gnucash-user > <[email protected]> wrote: > > Long message here. Sorry in advance! > > ;TLDR; The AI policy page needs edits which I feel unqualified to make, but I > think a discussion by the group as a whole is warranted. Delete if you're not > interested. > > In another thread, the GnuCash AI policy (wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/AI_Policy) > was cited as a concern for script consideration. I was unaware of this page > and consulted it. > > I appreciate the effort that John Ralls has put into this page, and the > amount of welcome detail included therein. > > However, I see a number of areas that concern me about the page, and I think > that the larger group should examine the page and weigh in. > > First off: there is, actually, no policy stated on the page. The Opening > Section raises a number of legitimate concerns regarding AI use and ethics, > which strongly suggest that the GnuCash team does not want AI code included. > But then the Other Projects section presents information from numerous other > MAJOR open source projects that cover a very wide range of AI acceptance. > This section in essence undermines whatever position may have been the team's > intention. > > In other words, the two sections make it difficult for a reader to articulate > what GnuCash's policy is or might be. That needs to be fixed, most likely > with a GnuCash Policy section that unambiguously states what the team will or > will not accept. See below. > > Another concern I have is that the opening section includes a range of > concerns that are fundamentally different in their focus. I think some > consideration should be made as to how these are presented or argued. > Perhaps, for example, quality and skills could be grouped and addressed > together, with a focus on results for GnuCash code, while the legal issues > could focus on GnuCash liability. > > I won't quibble about the section about quality, except to note that bad > quality code can come from any source--including and especially from human > contributors. One reason I don't contribute code anywhere is because I SUCK > at coding, and my code is terrible. I'll also note that the tools have > advanced at a staggering pace, to the point where Linus himself is embracing > their use in the Linux kernel. > (<https://lore.kernel.org/linux-media/CAHk-=wi4zc+ze8e+p3tmv8ttg_80kzsz1syl9anbtmeh5z4...@mail.gmail.com/>) > > I have no qualms about the provenance piece. That's clearly an area that John > has a lot of expertise! > > I personally don't have the legal expertise to judge the conclusions of the > copyrightability of AI code, and while I respect John's greater knowledge and > experience in this area, I question whether anyone can tell where these legal > boundaries lie, and where they will end up. > > While the assertion that AI generated code cannot be copyrighted is accurate > at this time, I suspect the boundaries on this will move substantially when > the legal world gets involved. For instance, I guarantee that someone will > file a case claiming that their code deserves protection based on some > percentage of their own oversight and contribution, and the courts will issue > some kind of decision that will piss someone else off, who will then appeal, > etc. And eventually, the superannuated fuddy-duddies in Washington will call > for hearings (some one of them will angrily insist that they need to see this > Claude guy in the witness box Im-me-di-ate-ly!) and eventually create a badly > crafted law to establish how copyright should apply in these situations. But > I'm definitely not in a position to know where this ends up. > > Moving on, the question of skill development is fair, but one that is much > larger than the GnuCash project, and I question whether it's relevant for > GnuCash's AI policy page. To put this in perspective, college students around > the world are questioning whether they should stick with Comp Sci as a major, > given the market trends. And while it's in GnuCash's interest to have skilled > coders contributing to the project, see my note above about quality code. AI > isn't necessarily the problem; lazy people who think they can get complex > code handed to them without doing their own work are. > > I personally agree with the issues regarding LLMs as netizens. > > Because I am Unqualified But Opinionated (UBO), I'll offer here a suggested > addition to the wiki page. It could go at the top or the bottom, as > appropriate: > > --------- > GnuCash AI Policy > Given the concerns and issues raised here, as well as the overall uncertainty > about how AI-generated code fits in computing universe, the development team > for GnuCash has determined that code contributed to the project should > contain only code that the human contributor affirms is as accurate, > error-free, and efficient as they can determine. > > Ideally, this code will not include AI-generated code, but if it does, the > submission MUST: > 1) State clearly the use of AI-generated code. > 2) Name the AI tools and specific prompts used. > 3) Identify the extent of AI-generated code. > 4) State workflows used to evaluate and process AI-generated code. > > Finally, the use of AI-generated code will likely result in additional > scrutiny of such code to verify its quality, accuracy, and legitimacy and may > result in outright rejection of such submissions. > ---------- > David T. > > _______________________________________________ > gnucash-user mailing list > [email protected] > To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: > https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user > ----- > Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. > You can do this by using Reply-To-List or Reply-All. _______________________________________________ gnucash-user mailing list [email protected] To update your subscription preferences or to unsubscribe: https://lists.gnucash.org/mailman/listinfo/gnucash-user ----- Please remember to CC this list on all your replies. 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