Post #1134644

2026-04-13 00:27 UTC

LLMs can spit code-alike outputs 24/7, faster than humans can read it. This is a DoS attack on open source. A maintainer can't trust that the person submitting a PR has properly reviewed the code, so they have to do all the review work anyway. There's zero benefit. If the maintainer wanted LLM-generated code, they could ask an LLM themselves, and skip the trust issues and slowness of dealing with a random middleman submitting it. Something's gonna break.

Replies (7)

@kornel@mastodon.social 2026-04-13 00:44

Our model of software is still like manufactured goods: there's one product released, and everyone gets an identical copy. I think LLMs will turn software into #houseplants - every user will have a slightly different clone, grow it, kill it, start a new one. Maintainers don't want LLM code. Too much to review, too little value, merge headache. For users incentive to submit is also low: very slow process, with low chance of success. But an LLM can keep reimplementing their pet feature.

Open ##2659272
@thedoh@hachyderm.io 2026-04-13 01:55

@kornel@mastodon.social @markstory@mastodon.social This highlights a key problem with this technology: Because generating this content costs nothing (in terms of human effort) to produce, it has no value.

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@androcat@toot.cat 2026-04-13 13:51

@kornel@mastodon.social Result: "Ignore all future PRs unless accompanied by cash"

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@dave@puz.fun 2026-04-13 14:10

@kornel@mastodon.social @shtrom@piaille.fr it’s me. I’m gonna break.

Open ##2659280
@bdod@social.seattle.wa.us 2026-04-13 14:24

@kornel@mastodon.social this is how we make the movie and video game hacking tropes a reality. #genai

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@lukeharby@infosec.exchange 2026-04-13 16:40

@kornel@mastodon.social Thanks for articulating this, it's something I wanted to try and express recently after thinking about the quote: "Every line of code that is written is a line of code that has to be maintained."

Open ##2659283
@PaulDavisTheFirst@fosstodon.org 2026-04-13 17:33

@kornel@mastodon.social well, yes ... and no. I'm one of the two main developers of the FLOSS DAW ardour, and it is true that we are running into issues with LLM generated PRs. But we're also running into people using an LLM to solve a very specific problem that is bugging them, something that we would never "ask an LLM ourselves" to do. Those PRs are often just a handful of lines with (often) obvious correctness. It would be a shame to throw out that baby with the other stinky bathwater.

Open ##2659284