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  • Neil Brownneil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:11 AM

    Debian permitting use of genAI:

    1) I am surprised. Perhaps I am naive, but I was of the impression that Debian would be one of the last distros that would want this.

    2) I agree that the legal position varies around the world, and is subject to change. I don't know how easy it would be to remove genAI code if the risk profile changed.

    3) I am surprised how little weight is given (by anyone, not just Debian devs) to the environmental harm of genAI. Perhaps that is justified as being too remote to be of direct concern.

    4) As a long term Debian user impacted by this decision, I need to make a decision. Not doing anything is a decision in itself, even if a temporary decision. Moving from Debian would be many days of work, but that doesn't mean doing so is the wrong decision for me. Aargh.

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Replies

  • Neil Brownneil@mastodon.neilzone.co.uk
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:13 AM

    I have many more thoughts, particularly around genAI and Free software licensing, and law v ethics in the context of genAI, but those are not for today.

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  • Adam ♿voltagex@aus.social
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:14 AM

    @neil you strike me as an eminently sensible person, I'll be very interested in hearing where you land.

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  • mhagdornmhagdorn@toot.berlin
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:24 AM

    @neil @tschenkel that is very tempting unfortunately very tricky given our dependence on complex infrastructure.

    I imagine tending a herd of goats and tending to an olive grove

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  • AndresAndres4NY@social.ridetrans.it
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:25 AM

    @neil My thinking is that it sucks a great deal, but it's not something that I need to rush to deal with. I'm already using openwrt a lot more at home (I used to have a wifi AP running debian), and most of the AI use that I've seen so far has been more on the infrastructure side (dak, voting software, etc) than individual packages. But I'm going to start investigating other distributions..

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  • Oh 2 tenrom@social.lol
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:32 AM

    @neil On the same boat.

    #3 looks to me like a “fruit from the poisoned tree” thing — a tool with questionable, at least ethically, origins and operations

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  • Frankfschaap@mastodon.social
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:33 AM

    @neil Well, with even the Linux kernel accepting the use of LLMs... maybe it's time to start looking towards BSD, maybe even specifically NetBSD as they seem clearest on the case.

    Code runs deep and sometimes fast and so does this issue.

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  • b3lt3rb3lt3r@mastodon.b3lt3r.com
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:38 AM

    @neil went through the same cycle yesterday, but the only system I saw which is hard "no" mentioned was NetBSD which, tbh, looks a pain to use.

    After pondering, I think the real issue for me isn't Debian, it's the kernel. Linus and the foundation opening that door means *every* Linux distro is "tainted". I see no issue with a distro allowing it if I can actually move to one that doesn't, but the kernel is the kernel. 🤬

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  • Simon Dückertsimondueckert@mastodon.social
    Aug 30, 2026, 6:49 AM

    @neil I am not sure if this is worth the effort. In a few years all distros/maintainers will permit using genAI. Perhaps there will be "vinyl" distributions without :)

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