The growing divide between AI hype and software engineering reality

A review of AI policies in 120 open-source projects found 37 enforce a total AI ban. The Linux kernel allows LLM-generated contributions only with attribution and mandatory human review. GCC, QEMU, SDL, Gentoo, Zig, Ghostty, Codeberg, Sourcehut and Flathub reject all AI-assisted code, documentation, bug reports and reviews, while Debian is voting on a proposal to prohibit AI use across its contributions. Concerns focus on LLM outputs that appear plausible but contain hidden errors, prompting experts to prioritize quality and avoid unreliable “AI slop.”