@neil
Can't emphasize enough how important this point is, tactics-wise: https://mastodon.social/@ekaitz_zarraga/117217074675531534

@neil
> Yes, I am an F-Droid board member

Whoa, I had no idea! Thank you!

I have had a lot of replies to this, and I am sorry that I will not be able to reply to each individually.

But I can at least try to reply thematically.

Again, my personal views.

> I like genAI / I use genAI

There's not really an argument here, but as a show of "banning genAI would annoy me, as a user of F-Droid", yes, I take that on board.

> genAI is really good

Even if true, on its own, this does not carry enough weight in my eyes to justify overlooking the problems.

> It is the output that counts, not how it is made.

Ethics matter to me.

I support codes of conduct for projects. I can't ignore the horrible views of an author to let me enjoy their writing. And so on.

To my mind, a community - humanity! - is about more than code, and I don't buy a "make the code better at all costs" argument.

@neil the argument "we should follow debian's example" made me so fucking furious.

I sincerly hope f-droid choose a no-AI policy.

@neil i gave up on F-Droid ever since reviewers thought that accepting openly transphobic apps is OK. It can burn for all I care.

@neil literally "no AI-code" in code is fiction I am afraid, also how can you check that and what is the difference from the old days when people copied parts of code from elsewhere without checking. The importance thing is quality (in various aspects) and being responsible for what you make, what tools you use (AI or others), is secondary?

@neil I if people don’t want AI generated code they should have that choice. The problem is it’s impossible to police unless someone submits an obvious slop PR.

Short of using AI to try to detect AI code and hoping it has 100% despite the ethical implications l, I’m not sure how you’d do it.

@neil thank you for your service 🫡

@neil

I wonder how much it differ from "I do not want apps written in language A" mantra.

There were people writing shitty software. There are, and there will be.

Never mind which language they speak, which they use to write an app and how much of that app will come from AI/LLM.

The thing is: no one is forcing to use AI or AI assisted apps.

@neil
Oh crud… Lately I've talked to the F-Droid account on the Fediverse about “AI” anti-feature. And I was shut down due to increased workload.

…now I wonder how EU rules about labeling degenAI content will affect them and Debian.

@neil
if fdroid isn't a safe haven from the excesses of big tech, then what even IS it?

@neil I have a suspicion that you are in a similar position to Debian, and that ship may have already sailed upstream?

@neil

Almost every new app on f-droid has slop

@neil is f-droid still relevant after this month tho

@neil Hmm, IMHO, just no. It's bad enough that Google is dumping GenAI into every bit of Android, we don't need more of that.

@neil I just started using F-Droid yesterday. Gemini AI assisted me get started.

@neil Uggg. This is exactly what I was worried would happen, downstreams modeling stuff after this awful GR. We should've just had a proper "we won't make a decision right now" option..

@neil
While I see your point, I'm just acknowledging that more and more people are writing code with AI tools, being pure vibe coding or AI-assisted coding.
There's no going back, we should accept the new reality.

@neil I've been wondering what I should do about the app I've got on F-droid: https://www.ravelry.com/discuss/beecount/4418207/1-25#3
Summary: Don't love the tech, but it's been useful in some circumstances.

@neil
Please, let the #IA #entshittification out of #fdroid !
🥺

@neil so many apps on F-Droid are clearly vibe coded. I literally just downloaded a nice looking launcher, tried it out, checked the source code and it openly said it was a project in vibe coding. Shame as it looked like a nice concept but i can't trust it.

I used to be able to trust that f-droid apps were ugly, buggy, functional, and made with integrity and care. The toothpaste is clearly out of the tube now but it's a shame what we have lost.

@neil in case they (or you) haven’t seen it you might want to draw folks attention to the open jdk policy, which seems more sensible to me in that it doesn’t lay the groundwork for future total acceptance of llm generated floss but still leaves room for debate.