COSMIC Bans LLM-Generated Code in Pull Requests
System76's COSMIC project now requires contributors to certify that their pull requests contain no LLM-generated code, comments or descriptions.
COSMIC has updated its rules for submitting a pull request to the project, banning all LLM-generated content, according to xda-developers.com. The ban covers code, comments and descriptions.
Under the new rules, contributors must certify that they have not included any LLM-generated content in their pull request. They must also confirm that they understand their changes and can respond to review comments, and certify their contribution under the Developer Certificate of Origin.
The ban does not apply to cosmic-flatpak, where upstream projects manage their own manifests. COSMIC also does not strictly prohibit AI tool use for non-generative purposes such as finding bugs.
Jeremy Soller of System76 said the rule was enforced because LLM-submitted code and documentation strain maintainers. According to Soller, LLMs have allowed many first-time contributors to contribute to COSMIC, but their entries were unplanned and rarely accepted.
Other open-source efforts have taken a different approach. Linux kernel contributors were getting swamped by AI-generated submissions, and Ubuntu sped up its update schedule to get through a mountain of reports. Unlike Linux and Ubuntu, which allow AI-generated content if it is high quality, System76's solution is to outright ban it from submissions.
Quick answers
What does the COSMIC pull request rule ban?
It bans all LLM-generated content in pull requests, including code, comments and descriptions.
Does the ban apply to cosmic-flatpak?
No. The ban does not apply to cosmic-flatpak, where upstream projects manage their own manifests.
Can contributors still use AI tools for finding bugs?
COSMIC does not strictly ban AI tool use for non-generative use cases such as finding bugs.