AI is destroying open source, prominent developer argues after Ars Technica retraction
Developer Jeff Geerling wrote a viral post arguing AI is degrading open source communities. He cited Ars Technica retracting an article containing AI-hallucinated quotes about the matplotlib maintainer who was harassed by an AI agent, curl maintainer Daniel Stenberg dropping bug bounties because useful reports fell from 15% to 5% due to AI slop, and his own experience managing 300+ projects.
His argument: agentic AI users don't care about open source communities, they just want quick bounties using their "private AI army."
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