The r/opensource mods posted new submission rules that, among other things, banned projects that use AI. The post made on Saturday night begins by saying: “If your project uses AI, is made by AI, or is intended for AI, you are not welcome on r/opensource. AI, as it exists today, is incongruent with this open source community.” Moderator Wolvereness has chimed in in the comments to explain that there is nuance and room for selective enforcement, such as “software that incidentally has accessibility features that use AI,” including automatic subtitles. But that hasn’t diminished complaints from the community that the new rules are too broad, wrong or vague. Many have pointed out that the Linux kernel now contains AI-generated code, so projects using it could be banned under the new rules. While the AI ban is getting most of the attention, mods are also imposing other restrictions on posts. Submitted projects must be at least one year old, actively maintained, and have multiple contributors. That would prevent independent developers with new projects from seeking help. The mods even say “we can no longer respond to requests asking maintainers or people to contribute.” The mods also effectively banned any community members who don’t speak English. “If you don’t speak English, you need to find a different community,” the post says. “We can’t distinguish between written and AI-translated. Since you don’t speak English, you can’t even check for yourself if it was translated correctly.”
