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docs(contributing): add policy on generative AI/LLMs #1586

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docs(contributing): add AI/LLM policy
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
e2519d6
docs: clarify copyright concerns
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
55c49c3
docs: further exemplify potential uses of LLMs
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
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docs: grammar pass (because why do i use potentially so much anyway)
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
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docs: specifically mention common vibecoding tools/IDEs, rephrase ope…
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
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chore: reduce licensing/copyright section slightly
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
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chore: tiny grammar improvement, maybe?
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
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fix(docs): add new section to table of contents
shiftinv Jul 29, 2026
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15 changes: 15 additions & 0 deletions CONTRIBUTING.md
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Expand Up @@ -37,6 +37,21 @@ Generally speaking, questions are better suited in our resources below.

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## Generative AI Policy

The use of large language models (LLMs) for contributions to this project is **expressly forbidden**.
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This includes tools like ChatGPT, Copilot, Claude, DeepSeek, and others.

This policy **applies to all parts of the project**, including, but not limited to, code contributions, documentation contributions, and conversations in issues/pull requests.
An **exception** applies specifically for translating texts to interact with issues, pull requests, or discussions in the repository.

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Not only is AI-generated content typically a detriment to the overall quality of the issue tracker and codebase, resulting in additional work for maintainers and often wasting valuable time; it also raises concerns about copyright and ownership of intellectual property, as LLMs have been shown to occasionally reproduce copyrighted material verbatim, and it remains unclear whether the output of LLMs is copyrightable in the first place.

@EmmmaTech EmmmaTech Jul 29, 2026

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I don't see the importance of mentioning ai's copyright issues here. I think this section could focus more on the problems of cognitive offloading that tends to be done with increased usage of llms.

@shiftinv shiftinv Jul 29, 2026 •
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I'm not a lawyer (probably for the best), but I do think licensing is a concern in this context for open-source projects; e.g. under EU law, some AI-generated content seemingly may not be copyrightable at all, depending on the extent to which a human influenced the process (which can be questionable?).
I've shortened that section a little in 669b53a, in any case.

Mentioning cognitive offloading is a good call, but I'm a little torn on whether to include it, I already considered mentioning the potential environmental impact but scrapped the idea for now. I didn't want to turn this policy into a lecture on ethics and sustainability, but they're certainly valid points, so... not sure?

Generative AI tools, by their own nature, cannot assess the accuracy or correctness of their own responses/outputs, which makes them unsuitable for environments such as this project, where the responsibility of verifying and correcting potentially entirely fabricated changes is then pushed onto the reviewers.

**As such, if you encounter a bug or would like to see a new feature but don't feel equipped to make these changes yourself, please consider opening a bug report/feature request instead.**

AI tools *can* be useful to find information, answer questions, or gain further understanding of a particular topic (e.g. existing code in a project), but caution should be exercised nevertheless; responses can possibly be misleading, outdated, or plainly incorrect.

## Good Bug Reports

To report bugs (or to suggest new features), visit our [issue tracker](https://github.com/DisnakeDev/disnake/issues).
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