[FFmpeg-devel] [RFC] Introducing policies regarding "AI" contributions

[Alexander Strasser via ffmpeg-devel <ffmpeg-devel@ffmpeg.org>]

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From: Alexander Strasser <eclipse7@gmx.net>
To: ffmpeg-devel@ffmpeg.org
Subject: [RFC] Introducing policies regarding "AI" contributions
Date: Tue, 1 Jul 2025 12:58:23 +0200
Message-ID: <aGO_T_HfuvhbgYoy@metallschleim.local>

Hi all,

I do not like the branding of the LLMs as AI, thus I will for now
continue to call it "AI" in quotes. I'm open for better terms.

It was just yesterday brought up on IRC in #ffmpeg-devel that there
was at least one, marked attempt to include "AI" generated code[1].

At least I would say that this particular patch series was rejected,
but there were was no explicit discussion and clear statement about
"AI" generated content; especially code.

Thus I want this thread to start a discussion, that eventually leads
to a policy about submitting and integrating "AI" generated content.

Leaving all ethical issues aside for a moment I still see 2 very big
problems with AI generated code:

* looks generally plausible but is often subtly wrong
    * leading to more work, regressions and costs
        * which often lands on a different group of people (other
          projects, reviewers, bug finders, bug fixers, etc.)
        * which are sometimes delayed for quite some time increasing
          the costs of fixing them
* license/copyright violations
    * this might be sometimes a non-issue with small changes
    * but especially for complete components the risk seems high

There is a lot more to the topic and I probably forgot to bring up
many more important aspects and details. Please feel free to bring
more things up in the discussion!

There was a preparation in the musl project to put up a policy[2],
it has not yet been finalized and realized as far as I understand.

It also brings up the point, that it is not really related to
recent "AI" tech, but more to the origin of work and its handling.
Unfortunately "AI" made problems with this a lot more common.


Best regards,
  Alexander

1. https://lists.ffmpeg.org/pipermail/ffmpeg-devel/2025-April/342146.html
2. https://www.openwall.com/lists/musl/2024/10/19/3

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