AI Policy, Disclosure, and Human in the Loop: How Are Contribution Guidelines Adapting to GenAI?

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2605.16706v1
• Date: Fri, 15 May 2026 23:44:08 GMT
• Title: AI Policy, Disclosure, and Human in the Loop: How Are Contribution Guidelines Adapting to GenAI?
• Abstract summary: Generative AI (GenAI) has transformed software development.<n>To address the rise of GenAI, open source projects have begun implementing policies for AI usage in contributions.<n>This paper provides an initial empirical study to explore how open source projects are adapting to GenAI contributions.
• Score: 2.3625700564650347
• License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Abstract: Generative AI (GenAI) has recently transformed software development. Due to the ease of generating code, open source projects are experiencing a growth in contributions. To address the rise of GenAI, open source projects have begun implementing policies for AI usage in contributions. However, the extent to which open source specifies whether AI-assisted contributions are allowed or prohibited, along with the best practices for contributors, remains unclear. This paper provides an initial empirical study to explore how open source projects are adapting to GenAI contributions. We analyzed 1,000 popular GitHub repositories and identified 118 AI policies for contributors. Our results show that (1) 78% of the AI policies allow contributions generated with GenAI, while 22% explicitly discourage their use; (2) 51% of the AI policies require the disclosure of AI-generated contributions; and (3) 74% of the AI policies require a human in the loop during contribution. Overall, we find that the majority of the analyzed AI policies are positive regarding the usage of GenAI. However, AI disclosure and human in the loop are fundamental in the contribution process. Finally, we conclude by discussing implications for developers and researchers.

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