Reddit's Largest Open Source Community Dumbfounded By AI Ban: 'I Guess Linux Is No Longer Allowed?'
Kotaku reports: r/opensource, Reddit's primary "subreddit for everything open source related," has banned all AI-assisted and AI-related projects.... As reported by The Verge, the subreddit's October 24 post, titled "Your tokens aren't valuable: No more AI," features four new main rules: all projects must now be at least "1 year old," have "multiple contributors," be posted by someone who must…
r/opensource, Reddit's premier subreddit for open-source related content, has recently enacted a ban on AI-assisted and AI-related projects. The subreddit's moderators explained in a post, titled "Your tokens aren't valuable: No more AI," that all submitted projects must be at least one year old, have multiple contributors, be posted by someone who speaks English, and not be made by or intended for AI.
The decision to ban AI stems from the moderators' belief that AI, as it exists today, is incompatible with the open-source community. This bold move has understandably unsettled many users, with the subreddit's moderator admitting that the overwhelming negative response is likely due to the posting of an opinionated editorial by someone who claimed to be an alternative news source.
The timing of this thread, along with its mention of the Linux kernel, has led many to suspect that The Lunduke Journal may be responsible. In response to the backlash, the moderator updated their post to acknowledge that some Reddit users had created rival communities such as r/OpenSourceAIAllowed, r/TrueOpenSource, r/OpenSourceWare, and r/ActuallyOpenSource.
One concerned commenter questioned whether the use of AI might now exclude projects like Linux from the subreddit, suggesting that Linus Torvalds may now be barred from submitting his work.
Written by urgent.news from Slashdot's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
