Fedora council approves policy allowing AI-assisted contributions

The Fedora Council has approved AI-assisted contributions to its Linux distribution, following intense debate and subject to strict conditions.

Contributors must take full accountability for their submissions and disclose AI tool usage when AI generates a significant portion of their work unchanged. Minor AI assistance, like grammar checking, doesn't require disclosure..

The policy was drafted in late September, following an AI survey in summer 2024, and was then discussed by the community. It also includes sections on use of AI in project management and Fedora as a platform for AI development. One notable clause states states "any user-facing AI assistant, especially one that sends data to a remote service, must not be enabled by default and requires explicit, informed consent" – something users of commercial operating systems would likely welcome.

Fedora operations architect Aoife Moloney posted yesterday that "the Fedora council has approved the latest version of the AI-assisted contributions ...