👀 … https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2026/apr/15/eternal-november-generative-ai-llm/ …my colleague Denver Gingerich writes: newcomers' extensive reliance on LLM-backed generative AI is comparable to the Eternal September onslaught to USENET in 1993.
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@bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana Part of the problem here is that the AI companies have set the stage themselves. Their presumption is that it's fine to absorb effectively all open and "indie" content, and that this is entirely fair to pull into a model without any legal implications, whereas potentially yes, you may need to "license" something that looks like a Disney character. In the land of code, I also sense that Microsoft is perfectly fine with the idea that you can "copyright launder" a codebase from the GPL to perhaps the public domain, but if someone did that to their own leaked source code, they would be very upset.
Meanwhile, a friend of mine who works in films has said that he keeps hearing rumors that OpenAI would like a cut of stuff made with their stuff. We should presume tthat true.
Regardless, I'm sure everyone on this thread wants an *equitable* situation for proprietary and FOSS licensing. I'll expand on that more in a moment though.
@cwebber @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana
Indeed, big tech know full well the FLOSS / indie creators don't have the legal funds to defend. Their IP either.
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@bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana So let me summarize:
- Without knowing the legal status of accepting LLM contributions, we're potentially polluting our codebases with stuff that we are going to have a HELL of a time cleaning up later
- The idea of a copyleft-only LLM is a joke and we should not rely on it
- We really only have two realistic scenarios: either FOSS projects cannot accept LLM based contributions legally from an international perspective, or everything is effectively in the public domain as outputted from these machines, but at least in the latter scenario we get to weaken copyright for everyone.That's leaving out a lot of other considerations about LLMs and the ethics of using them, which I think most of the other replies were focused on, I largely focused on the copyright implications aspects in this subthread. Because yes, I agree, it can be important to focus a conversation.
But we can't ignore this right now.
We're putting FOSS codebases at risk.
@cwebber @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana Super interesting thread. Very helpful to spell out the problems like this.
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@cwebber @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana I think we should just destroy copyright entirely and expand the public domain to contain everything that has ever been published. Intellectual property was a very bad idea in the first place IMHO.
@LordCaramac @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana If you are talking about my personal wishes, I would agree. Personally, I perceive of FOSS as a *reaction to* allowing copyright and other intellectual restrictions laws to apply to software.
This puts me at odds with some other copyleft advocates. I see copyleft as useful because it "turns the teeth of the machine against itself". If you have copyright, then great, we will use it to have a way to force the commons to stay open.
But it would be better to have no copyright at all, and if we could give it up, I would give it up.
But it's a far-fetched dream that it could happen. Maybe it will. I am not so sure. If it truly is possible to "copyright launder" any work through an LLM, we'd be as close to it as we ever could be.
But again, whatever scenario, in my view, has to be equitable. If it's possible to do that to GPL'ed software, it's only just to be possible to do it to any proprietary software, including reverse engineering binaries.
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@davidgerard @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning @cwebber Yes, which is why it's important to allow people to identify when they have used LLM/AI assistants to help. New contributors will see this is the norm, and then it will be easier to help them, because we'll know a bit about where any potential knowledge gaps might be coming from.
If we "ban" LLM/AI-assisted contributions, people will use them anyway but hide their use, which is a trickier problem to solve.
@ossguy @davidgerard @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning @cwebber
Very true, Denver Gingerich. People do things despite rules saying not to. You are very smart. Quick question: do you keep your house's door locked despite people being able to break in anyway? Maybe you should stop locking your door.
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@ossguy @davidgerard @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning @cwebber
Very true, Denver Gingerich. People do things despite rules saying not to. You are very smart. Quick question: do you keep your house's door locked despite people being able to break in anyway? Maybe you should stop locking your door.
@TheEntity @davidgerard @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning Despite me disagreeing with @ossguy here, I do think he is smart, and I respect him. I am partly spending this much time here because these are people I consider to be colleagues, and I believe have the best interest of the FOSS world in mind. I just think they are making a huge mistake in how they are framing this, as most of the world is right now.
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@bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana If we are pushing for an *equitable* scenario for copyright output, there is only one "good outcome" in terms of copyright, and that is that everything is effectively in the public domain. The dream of having a "copyleft LLM" doesn't work.
And even if it did, there are several problems:
- Nobody is using that *now*, and contributors are facing contributions *now*, and there is legal uncertainty about accepting those contributions *right now*.
- It is unlikely that the "copyleft LLM" would be very useful. The way people use these tools is conversational in a way that requires them to effectively have to be trained on the entire internet to be functional. Not just copyleft codebases.The copyleft LLM dream is a joke.
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@davidgerard @ossguy @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning @cwebber @david_chisnall In fact, people lying about LLM usage may be the best outcome: code review continues as usual based on the merits of the contribution and track record of the contributor, deniability for the project, legal responsibility lies with the contributor, and any possible benefits of the LLM usage accrue to the project without challenging the norms of copyright and licensing.
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@davidgerard @ossguy @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning @cwebber @david_chisnall In fact, people lying about LLM usage may be the best outcome: code review continues as usual based on the merits of the contribution and track record of the contributor, deniability for the project, legal responsibility lies with the contributor, and any possible benefits of the LLM usage accrue to the project without challenging the norms of copyright and licensing.
@jonmsterling @davidgerard @ossguy @wwahammy @silverwizard @firefly_lightning @david_chisnall It's a perverse incentive situation that this may be true. I can't say I'm comfortable with it, though.
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@LordCaramac @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana If you are talking about my personal wishes, I would agree. Personally, I perceive of FOSS as a *reaction to* allowing copyright and other intellectual restrictions laws to apply to software.
This puts me at odds with some other copyleft advocates. I see copyleft as useful because it "turns the teeth of the machine against itself". If you have copyright, then great, we will use it to have a way to force the commons to stay open.
But it would be better to have no copyright at all, and if we could give it up, I would give it up.
But it's a far-fetched dream that it could happen. Maybe it will. I am not so sure. If it truly is possible to "copyright launder" any work through an LLM, we'd be as close to it as we ever could be.
But again, whatever scenario, in my view, has to be equitable. If it's possible to do that to GPL'ed software, it's only just to be possible to do it to any proprietary software, including reverse engineering binaries.
@cwebber@social.coop @LordCaramac@discordian.social @bkuhn@copyleft.org @ossguy@fedi.copyleft.org @richardfontana@mastodon.social In a world without copyright (assuming no other changes), nothing would prevent people from withholding source code and attempting to restrict people’s freedom by technical means (DRM). On the other hand, it would also be entirely legal to reverse engineer everything and bypass the DRM.
Copyright should be removed, but DRM and providing binaries without source code should also be made illegal.
<small>Also why is your post language set to de?</small>
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@cwebber@social.coop @LordCaramac@discordian.social @bkuhn@copyleft.org @ossguy@fedi.copyleft.org @richardfontana@mastodon.social In a world without copyright (assuming no other changes), nothing would prevent people from withholding source code and attempting to restrict people’s freedom by technical means (DRM). On the other hand, it would also be entirely legal to reverse engineer everything and bypass the DRM.
Copyright should be removed, but DRM and providing binaries without source code should also be made illegal.
<small>Also why is your post language set to de?</small>
@noisytoot @LordCaramac @ossguy @bkuhn @richardfontana I agree with you, and also have no idea why my post was set to DE.
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@cwebber@social.coop @LordCaramac@discordian.social @bkuhn@copyleft.org @ossguy@fedi.copyleft.org @richardfontana@mastodon.social In a world without copyright (assuming no other changes), nothing would prevent people from withholding source code and attempting to restrict people’s freedom by technical means (DRM). On the other hand, it would also be entirely legal to reverse engineer everything and bypass the DRM.
Copyright should be removed, but DRM and providing binaries without source code should also be made illegal.
<small>Also why is your post language set to de?</small>
@noisytoot @richardfontana @LordCaramac @cwebber @ossguy @bkuhn I don't agree that abolishing copyright would abolish DRM laws, but I, at least, agree we should get rid of both laws. -
https://sfconservancy.org/blog/2026/apr/15/eternal-november-generative-ai-llm/ now reflects what I thought was posted hours ago. Sorry for the confusion.
You all got an insight into how much you have to draft & redraft to consider difficult policy questions. Anyone who works in policy drafted a dozen things that were not quite right before getting it right.
Anyway, if you still think it's terrible, I refer you to all my other posts from this evening.
@ossguy @josh @wwahammy @linux_mclinuxface @burnoutqueen @cwebber @silverwizard @mjw @mmu_man
@bkuhn I'd like to thank you and @ossguy for trying to start a conversation.
I find for topics like this one, attempts to meet the other side where they're at can quickly be misunderstood and flooded with pushback.
But in my opinion, it is that willingness to listen and negotiate that eventually leads to real outcomes and people changing their minds.
While I may not be the target you're looking for, I'll try to attend to one of the discussions and/or reach with an email in case it helps.
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@bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana Continuing here, because it's the relevant subthread.
I am sympathetic to choosing to narrow a topic. However, the post, in implying that we should start accepting partially AIgen contributions, inherently pulls in the topic of whether or not that is legally safe.
Yes, I have read the previous Conservancy post about the existing cases. This partly contributes to my surprise and confusion about the post.
Acknowledging that the plan is to have continued conversations and meetings about this, I still feel it is important to lay down my current concerns, even before such a meeting. I am leaving the "quality of contributions" and many other details out of here, and instead focusing on whether of not it is *safe to accept* contributions on copyright grounds at the moment, and what the implications of thinking on that are.
(cotd)
Well put @cwebber I totally agree!
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@bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana I say "good outcome", and I'm not saying it's an outcome I want, because "what I want" is pretty complicated here. I'm saying, it's the only one where there is the possibility of legal output from these tools that can safely be incorporated into FOSS projects *at all* that is *equitable* for both FOSS and proprietary situations.
And yup, unfortunately, that would mean copyright-laundering of FOSS codebases through LLMs would be possible to strip copyleft.
It would also mean the same for proprietary codebases.
Frankly I think it would kind of rule if we stabbed copyright in the gut that badly, but there's so much vested interest from various copyright holding corporations, I don't think we're likely to get that. Do you?
@cwebber @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana how do you launder proprietary codebases if the source isn't available? i just see this as 2 negatives since it would incentivize trade secrets
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@LordCaramac @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana If you are talking about my personal wishes, I would agree. Personally, I perceive of FOSS as a *reaction to* allowing copyright and other intellectual restrictions laws to apply to software.
This puts me at odds with some other copyleft advocates. I see copyleft as useful because it "turns the teeth of the machine against itself". If you have copyright, then great, we will use it to have a way to force the commons to stay open.
But it would be better to have no copyright at all, and if we could give it up, I would give it up.
But it's a far-fetched dream that it could happen. Maybe it will. I am not so sure. If it truly is possible to "copyright launder" any work through an LLM, we'd be as close to it as we ever could be.
But again, whatever scenario, in my view, has to be equitable. If it's possible to do that to GPL'ed software, it's only just to be possible to do it to any proprietary software, including reverse engineering binaries.
@cwebber @LordCaramac @bkuhn @richardfontana Sadly it will be years before we have an answer re copyright and we can't wait for that. Outlining usage in the meantime is the best we can do, in case we need to do something with that later.
We know proprietary software companies are using these tools extensively, so this is in effect a mutually assured destruction situation. While we wait, we should make sure that we are pushing freedom on all other axes, since they won't do that part.
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@cwebber @LordCaramac @bkuhn @richardfontana Sadly it will be years before we have an answer re copyright and we can't wait for that. Outlining usage in the meantime is the best we can do, in case we need to do something with that later.
We know proprietary software companies are using these tools extensively, so this is in effect a mutually assured destruction situation. While we wait, we should make sure that we are pushing freedom on all other axes, since they won't do that part.
I agree with @ossguy in particular because if *we* are copylefting our code (even if assisted by #LLM-backed gen-#AI), we won't face a copyleft claim later.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely these LLMs are (a) trained on proprietary software, and (b) any proprietary software company that so-trained would later claim infringement.
#Microsoft has all but admitted they refuse to train Copilot on their own code anyway.
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@bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana Now here is a counter-argument: how do people attribute Wikipedia? They generally just attribute Wikipedia! And people seem to be mostly fine with this.
It feels fine, when you were a contributor to the Wikipedia project.
It feels a lot less fine when you are a contributor to a specific project, to have everything just sucked up into "the generic LLM". Claude did it! Claude did it all by itself.
@cwebber @bkuhn @ossguy @richardfontana Giving a link to a Wikipedia page lets you look up the version history with every single contributor from the first byte of the article. You don’t have to list 10,000 names to satisfy CC BY, you just have to provide a link to a page that does. An LLM doesn’t and cannot do that.
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@cwebber@social.coop @LordCaramac@discordian.social @bkuhn@copyleft.org @ossguy@fedi.copyleft.org @richardfontana@mastodon.social In a world without copyright (assuming no other changes), nothing would prevent people from withholding source code and attempting to restrict people’s freedom by technical means (DRM). On the other hand, it would also be entirely legal to reverse engineer everything and bypass the DRM.
Copyright should be removed, but DRM and providing binaries without source code should also be made illegal.
<small>Also why is your post language set to de?</small>
@noisytoot @ossguy @bkuhn @richardfontana @cwebber because I always forget to check the language in the Android app, and it defaults to the system language
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@noisytoot @LordCaramac @ossguy @bkuhn @richardfontana I agree with you, and also have no idea why my post was set to DE.
@cwebber @noisytoot @ossguy @bkuhn @richardfontana Mine are often set to De because that's my system language, and I usually forget to check the language in the Android app
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I agree with @ossguy in particular because if *we* are copylefting our code (even if assisted by #LLM-backed gen-#AI), we won't face a copyleft claim later.
Furthermore, it is highly unlikely these LLMs are (a) trained on proprietary software, and (b) any proprietary software company that so-trained would later claim infringement.
#Microsoft has all but admitted they refuse to train Copilot on their own code anyway.
@bkuhn @ossguy @LordCaramac @richardfontana
- There are plenty of FOSS projects we care about which are not under copyleft. What terms should they consider received code under? Should SDL now consider all LLM based output under the GPL? The AGPL? Which? Do you expect such a project to switch its license to copyleft now?
- Microsoft's proprietary code may not be, but plenty of proprietary code is available under extremely non-FOSS and restrictive licenses which are within datasets we are getting contributions from *today*
- The mutually assured destruction "safe option" isn't that things are under copyleft for proprietary companies though, that's still a losing scenario for them. So that doesn't help the case for copyleft, only accepting that LLM output under the public domain is (which we don't know)
