Re: [RFC PATCH v3 0/4] docs/devel, AGENTS.md: a completely new policy on AI-generated contributions

["Michael S. Tsirkin" <mst@redhat.com>]

On Mon, Sep 21, 2026 at 09:52:47AM +0200, Paolo Bonzini wrote:
> WARNING: this is *intentionally* a full U-turn from the previous policy
> and discussions.  This is not a refusal of the arguments presented in
> those discussions.  Also, it is still a request for comments.
> 
> I've explained in v2 my reason to "try something else".  On one hand
> attempting to introduce small carve-outs did not work due the impossibility
> of reaching a widespread consensus on this topic.  On the other hand,
> some contributors have been posting AI-generated patches or even larger
> series, most likely in good faith as they predated the introduction
> of an AGENTS.md file.  This shows that AI can be used for useful work
> on QEMU, ranging from small incremental improvements to new device models.
> 
> This is not a free-for-all, which is not a good idea either.  Maintainers
> will want to apply their own considerations (see [1] for a good list),
> and contributors should take into account the maintainers' preferences.
> 
> This is an attempt at building a process for contributions that use AI,
> heeding Conservancy's advice to not shun contributors or maintainers
> belonging to either camp, and keeping in mind that maintainer burnout
> is the one thing we have to avoid.  Some of these processes already
> existed, but the possibility of AI contribution makes it all more
> important to write them down for everyone.
> 
> There was not much discussion in the previous version.  I tried to rein
> in some of the language that allowed too wide interpretations, to apply
> the changes that were suggested, and to clarify those choices that drew
> more remarks.
> 
> As usual, the text including the commit messages is informed by discussion
> with plenty of people, mentioned in the Cc trailers of patch 1.
> 
> Paolo



Something that we maybe should do, is to ask that
agent does not repeat, verbatim, code from outside
of qemu.

would not help in 100% of cases but hey.


> v2->v3:
> - remove parser example, replace with "adaptations of existing code"
> - when LLMs are used for boilerplate, "highly recommend" disclosure
>   for "non-trivial, functional code".  The idea here is to avoid
>   having to disclose using AI to apply e.g. changes related to
>   automatic code review, and leaving people some leeway.
> - clarify split between DCO (legal right to submit code in general)
>   and AI-used-for acknowledging that the submitter cannot audit LLM
>   output against e.g. the training data.
> - clarify the defense-in-depth/swiss-cheese approach to limit the
>   risk of copyright violations from LLM output
> - mention that pre-arrangement is not an entirely new concept
> - mention that maintainers can demand larger changes than for human-written code
> - do not mention inclusion of the prompt
> - add checkpatch.pl hunk, changing the phrasing of "no AI" lint
> - rebase AGENTS.md on top of existing file, split
> - drop CLAUDE.md/GEMINI.md symlinks, already done via .claude/.gemini
> 
> [1] https://lore.kernel.org/qemu-devel/CAFEAcA860fF_+ffk=cXiYyFoQo0wCSUJ6b=7nVLLCwKhP6Nwxw@mail.gmail.com/
> 
> Paolo Bonzini (4):
>   docs/devel: relax policy on AI-generated contributions
>   AGENTS.md: add final instructions
>   AGENTS.md: let agents know what the participation rules are
>   AGENTS.md: make the human part of the design process
> 
>  docs/devel/code-provenance.rst |  71 +-----------
>  docs/devel/index-process.rst   |   1 +
>  docs/devel/llm-usage.rst       | 202 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>  AGENTS.md                      | 137 +++++++++++++++++++---
>  scripts/checkpatch.pl          |   5 +-
>  5 files changed, 336 insertions(+), 80 deletions(-)
>  create mode 100644 docs/devel/llm-usage.rst
> 
> -- 
> 2.55.0