docs: AI contribution policy and PR disclosure levels by Just-Insane · Pull Request #430 · SableClient/Sable

Just-Insane · 2026-03-20T14:48:14Z

Summary

Updates the "Generative AI Usage" section in CONTRIBUTING.md to append a note about disclosing AI use in PRs. Also updates the PR template with a four-level AI disclosure checklist and fixes the stale Cinny link.

Changes

`CONTRIBUTING.md`

Keeps the original policy text intact
Appends: disclosure prompt pointing contributors to the PR template checklist

`.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md`

Fixed stale link (was pointing to upstream Cinny repo, now points to Sable's own CONTRIBUTING.md)
Added "AI assistance level" section with four mutually-exclusive levels:
- None — no AI tools used
- Research only — AI for research/understanding, no generated code
- AI-assisted — AI-suggested code, fully reviewed and understood
- Primarily AI-generated — majority AI-generated, thoroughly reviewed

Type of change

Bug fix (non-breaking change which fixes an issue)
New feature (non-breaking change which adds functionality)
Breaking change (fix or feature that would cause existing functionality to not work as expected)
This change requires a documentation update

AI assistance level

None — No AI tools were used
Research only — AI used for research, brainstorming, or understanding existing code; no generated code included
AI-assisted — AI suggested code or logic that I reviewed, tested, and understand fully; I can explain every change
Primarily AI-generated — The majority of code was AI-generated; I have thoroughly reviewed it, verified correctness, and made it my own

Checklist:

My code follows the style guidelines of this project
I have performed a self-review of my own code
I have commented my code, particularly in hard-to-understand areas
My changes generate no new warnings

dozro · 2026-03-20T14:56:56Z

CONTRIBUTING.md

+## AI-Assisted Development

-We expect and appreciate authentic engagement in our community.
+We welcome AI-assisted contributions. Tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, and others are legitimate parts of a modern development workflow, and we don't ask you to hide their use.


hmmm that might be understood as us endorsing ai generated code.

i liked the previous version more.

agree, we should stay neutral.

yeah the new version somehow sounds aggressively pro-ai.

like we would endorse it, idk if that's what we want to do

Disagree, this language is used to explicitly take a stance that can be pointed to when people make complaints.

The last section does need to be re-written though.

i think i just have to disagree. it’s too pro. we should be more neutral.

dozro · 2026-03-20T14:57:33Z

CONTRIBUTING.md

+- **Add genuine value.** Wrapping a prompt in a PR without understanding or verifying the output is not a contribution. Maintainers can tell the difference and will close PRs that don't meet the bar.

-Make sure you have added value based on your personal competency to your contributions. Just taking some input, feeding it to an AI and posting the result is not of value to the project. We reserve the right to rigorously reject seemingly AI generated low-value contributions.
+When opening a pull request, **disclose your level of AI use** using the checklist in the PR template. This isn't gatekeeping — it's transparency that helps reviewers calibrate their review depth. A heavily AI-generated PR will get more scrutiny; that's expected and fine.


i would keep the part with adding value based on personal competency in there.

Covered via https://github.com/SableClient/Sable/pull/430/changes#diff-eca12c0a30e25b4b46522ebf89465a03ba72a03f540796c979137931d8f92055R54

ig i just liked the old phrasing more, idk

CONTRIBUTING.md

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

Clarified guidelines on AI-assisted contributions, emphasizing transparency in AI usage.

…re note

linkpy · 2026-03-20T16:09:20Z

Not a maintainer but a user of Sable. Im rather opposed of the use of generative AI. It includes a lot of issues (code quality, performance, and usage of licensed code are the big one). Sable has been doing fine without it, I dont really see what it would bring or add to the project (except the issues listed above).

Just-Insane · 2026-03-20T17:45:56Z

Not a maintainer but a user of Sable. Im rather opposed of the use of generative AI. It includes a lot of issues (code quality, performance, and usage of licensed code are the big one). Sable has been doing fine without it, I dont really see what it would bring or add to the project (except the issues listed above).

Code quality, testing, reviews, etc are out of scope for this PR and will be addressed separately.

Additionally, there is AI generated code currently in Sable.

dozro

seems fine now, even tho i would’ve kept the heading as “restrictions on gen ai” but seems fine :3

Rosy-iso · 2026-03-20T21:38:50Z

i think this works now

Rosy-iso · 2026-03-20T22:18:43Z

wait why was this closed??

Just-Insane · 2026-03-21T00:56:37Z

wait why was this closed??

Because I am done with this community after the last couple days. This place is toxic and I will not put up with that.

I'm sure you all can figure out a path forward, but I will no longer be interacting with this community.

If anyone wants to keep in touch, my mxid is: @evie:cloudhub.social

Just-Insane · 2026-03-21T08:20:30Z

This may be okay to merge? But I can't support/update it going forward. You can merge it if you think it is useful.

Just-Insane added 2 commits March 20, 2026 10:43

docs: pro-AI contribution policy; add AI disclosure level to PR template

7372850

chore: add changeset

96f9d7e

dozro requested changes Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

hazre requested changes Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

CONTRIBUTING.md Show resolved Hide resolved

mini-bomba reviewed Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md Show resolved Hide resolved

Just-Insane added 2 commits March 20, 2026 11:15

Update AI-assisted contribution guidelines

c8a368d

Clarified guidelines on AI-assisted contributions, emphasizing transparency in AI usage.

docs: revert to original AI policy wording + add PR template disclosu…

50c1935

…re note

Just-Insane changed the title ~~docs: pro-AI contribution policy and PR disclosure levels~~ docs: AI contribution policy and PR disclosure levels Mar 20, 2026

Update PR template to include AI disclosure level

2bb507d

Just-Insane requested review from dozro and hazre March 20, 2026 20:55

Just-Insane marked this pull request as ready for review March 20, 2026 20:56

Just-Insane requested a review from 7w1 as a code owner March 20, 2026 20:56

dozro approved these changes Mar 20, 2026

View reviewed changes

Just-Insane closed this Mar 20, 2026

Just-Insane reopened this Mar 21, 2026

Conversation

Just-Insane commented Mar 20, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Summary

Changes

CONTRIBUTING.md

.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md

Type of change

AI assistance level

Checklist:

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

linkpy commented Mar 20, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Just-Insane commented Mar 20, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

dozro left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Rosy-iso commented Mar 20, 2026

Uh oh!

Rosy-iso commented Mar 20, 2026

Uh oh!

Just-Insane commented Mar 21, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Just-Insane commented Mar 21, 2026

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

6 participants

Just-Insane commented Mar 20, 2026 •

edited

Loading

`CONTRIBUTING.md`

`.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md`

linkpy commented Mar 20, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Just-Insane commented Mar 20, 2026 •

edited

Loading

Just-Insane commented Mar 21, 2026 •

edited

Loading