r/opensource Implements Strict Rules Against AI and Non-English Speakers

The moderators of r/opensource have announced new submission rules that ban projects utilizing AI. The post, made on October 25, states, “If your project uses AI, is made by AI, or is intended for AI, it’s not welcome on r/opensource. AI, as it exists today, is incongruent to this Open Source community.”

This decision has ignited controversy within the subreddit, prompting the creation of a rival subreddit named r/trueopensource. Moderator Wolvereness has engaged with commenters, indicating that there may be exceptions for software that incidentally includes AI features, such as automatic captioning. However, many users argue that the rules are overly broad and vague, noting that even the Linux kernel includes AI-generated code, which could lead to bans for projects using it.

In addition to the AI ban, the new rules impose further restrictions. Projects submitted must be at least one year old, actively maintained, and have multiple contributors. This effectively excludes solo developers with new projects from seeking assistance. The moderators also stated, “we can no longer field requests asking for maintainers or people to contribute.”

Furthermore, the rules have implications for non-English-speaking members of the community. The post reads, “If you don’t speak English, you need to find a different community. We cannot distinguish between AI-written and AI-translated. Since you don’t speak English, you can’t even verify yourself if it translated correctly.”

Source: The Verge AI