* jman via "General discussions about Org-mode. <[email protected]> [2026-03-07 20:20]: > ... which brings me to this point. Today **any and every** discussion about > LLMs not only revolves about the technical aspects but also about their > second-order side-effects and how these tools affect the world we live in: > - how they affect free/open-source projects: assaulted by "contributors" > pushing code not reviewed nor tested with made up claims. Sometimes > maintainers not even speaking to a human because comments are piped to an > LLM
LLMs enable unvetted, low-quality contributions to FOSS projects, overwhelming maintainers? Traditional software has always had this problem. GitHub alone sees millions of PRs annually, many from inexperienced contributors. The difference? LLMs accelerate the learning curve—novices can now propose better initial drafts (e.g., fixing typos, suggesting syntax) than they could before. This is not an assault; it’s scaling mentorship. Benefit: LLMs reduce the barrier to entry for marginalized groups (e.g., non-native speakers, disabled developers) who struggle with traditional documentation. The free software community gains diversity of thought—a net positive. > - how they affect service hosting: scraping content and putting > - servers on their knees how they affect developers' mindset: people > - "unlearning" how to think Search engines (Google, Bing) scrape the web at scale—no one calls this "kneecapping." Public APIs (e.g., Twitter’s v1) were abused by bots long before LLMs. The fix? Rate limits, opt-in scraping policies, and legal frameworks (e.g., GDPR, CC licenses). LLMs are no different—they just make abuse more visible. > about writing software and relying on - proprietary, pay-per-token > services This is not new—it’s just more transparent. Compare to: - Cloud computing: AWS charges per API call, storage, or compute hour—just like pay-per-token. - SaaS tools: Slack, Notion, all use subscription models with usage-based pricing. - Telecom: Cell phone plans charge per minute/data—a pay-per-use model. Free software workaround: host models on your computer and run those tokens yourself. > to write FOSS code how they - affect the environment: climate > impact, etc. Then self-host it! Companies like Taalas https://taalas.com/products/ are going to minimize that, technology is changing. Finally, do you want to move to future or backwards to pyramides? > how they affect - labor: people tagging datasets for training Then support ethical groups if you are concern with it. If you think labor changes, then you have to understand, there were sword makers back in time, when bullets got invented, sword makers had to switch. We are human who evolve. > The bottom line is - that I have serious concerns about LLMs state > as of > _today_ and - I believe any discussion should not shy away > from a > - comprehensive view and evaluation. I think the only reason for discussion is lenient attitude to new benefits. Jean
