Re: [MAINTAINERS SUMMIT] Other LLM-related topics - tags, newcomers, etc

[James Bottomley <James.Bottomley@HansenPartnership.com>]

On Thu, 2026-07-16 at 16:23 -0400, Liam R. Howlett wrote:
> On 26/07/16 12:36PM, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> > Sasha Levin <sashal@kernel.org> writes:
> > 
> > > On Thu, Jul 16, 2026 at 09:09:27AM -0600, Jonathan Corbet wrote:
> > > > The use of LLMs in the development process appears to be a
> > > > clear theme for the upcoming summit.  On top of what others
> > > > have already suggested, I think we may want to consider these
> > > > questions:
> > > > 
> > > > - Do we want to continue naming specific LLMs in the Assisted-
> > > > by tags, or  put something more generic?  I *think* that this
> > > > thread:
> > > > 
> > > >   
> > > > https://lore.kernel.org/all/20260701-work-coding-assistants-v1-1-a20a94d1d606@kernel.org/
> > > > 
> > > >  reached a consensus that "Assisted-by: LLM" was better than
> > > > what we require now, but it might be good to ratify that in
> > > > this setting.
> > > 
> > > So originally I've added the full name of the tool and LLM
> > > because there was interest in a later audit of the tools to
> > > determine how useful (or useless) some of the tools are.
> > > 
> > > If those folks aren't interested in doing so anymore, then sure -
> > > we can drop it.
> > > 
> > > But... I find it difficult to see the point of having the tag if
> > > we do that.
> > 
> > Folks like Greg have, in the recent past, said that it is useful
> > even without specific product-name information:
> > 
> >  
> > https://lore.kernel.org/all/2026070227-payroll-eradicate-8f66@gregkh/
> > 
> 
> There are a few classes of LLM users, but as more and more people are
> using LLM, the usefulness of this tag is converging on zero.

It's not just about whether you find it useful, it's also about whether
it has utility to the project history.  Remember the purpose of the
original signed-off-by tag was to track copyright origin in case of
another SCO like allegation.  Given the current US Copyright position
on generative AI

https://www.copyright.gov/newsnet/2025/1060.html

Whether AI is used or not affects the copyright status of the patch. 
Therefore it is a fairly vital piece of information to preserve, even
if the current advice changes over time.

Regards,

James