In July, we shared that Debian developers were debating whether to ban AI-assisted contributions. Now, they’ve started voting on how to handle contributions made with LLMs and other generative AI tools, with the updated ballot now listing eight proposals and a “None of the above” option.
Voting began on August 15 and will stay open until August 28. Only Debian Developers can vote, using Debian’s ranked voting system to list their preferences among the options. Here’s a brief overview of what each of the nine options offers.
The first one is still the original proposal to ban LLM-assisted contributions by changing the Debian Social Contract. This would stop generative AI from being used for direct Debian work like packaging, software, documentation, translations, websites, and project communication. However, upstream projects made with AI help would not be affected.
The proposal gives several reasons for the ban, such as unclear copyright and licensing, doubts about the reliability of AI-generated work, extra review work for maintainers, aggressive scraping of Free Software resources, and the high resource use of large AI systems.
On the other hand, some proposals would allow AI-assisted contributions but hold the submitter fully responsible.
For example, the second option would clearly allow contributions that are partly or fully made by an LLM, as long as contributors check their technical quality, security, licensing, and usefulness, fully understand the changes, and disclose major AI help. It would also ban sending private or sensitive Debian information to untrusted external AI services.
A similar fourth option recognizes worries about generative AI but says banning it would be hard to enforce and not helpful. This proposal would accept AI-assisted Debian work if it follows the Debian Free Software Guidelines, is properly reviewed and understood by the contributor, and is marked as AI-assisted when needed.
The fifth proposal is even more open. It says Debian should not support or ban generative AI tools, but should apply the same standards for quality, correctness, maintainability, and legality to all contributions, no matter how they were made.
Contributors would still need to review, understand, test, and take full responsibility for AI-assisted work. They would be encouraged, but not required, to disclose AI use. The proposal also says that submitting generated material without proper human review does not fit Debian’s usual development practices.
Another option suggests a more careful approach. It would encourage contributors to avoid generative AI when possible and prefer human authorship and understanding, but it would not ban AI across the whole project. Disclosing AI use would be voluntary.
One unique proposal is called “Debian is created by humans.” Instead of banning AI tools for contributors, it focuses on what actually gets included in Debian.
With this approach, contributors could use generative AI for research, analysis, exploration, or critique, but could not submit AI-generated output directly as Debian packaging, patches, documentation, bug reports, project communications, or other Debian work. As the proposal says: humans create Debian.
Another, much stricter proposal asks Debian contributors to avoid LLM use as much as possible. It would require all Debian communication, like bug reports, mailing-list messages, Salsa discussions, and Planet Debian posts, to be written only by humans. Any AI use in Debian work would have to be disclosed, and violations could be handled under the project’s Code of Conduct.
The final, eighth proposal mainly looks at the environmental impact of large language models. It asks contributors to avoid using LLMs when possible, saying their resource use is a serious environmental issue. The proposal also admits that it is hard to reliably detect AI use and that Debian cannot realistically limit upstream projects whose software it distributes.
Voting ends on August 28. After that, Debian will have a clearer answer to a question many Free Software projects now face: not whether generative AI is used in software development, but how much it should be allowed to shape the work that becomes part of the project.
