COSMIC bans all AI-generated submissions because its maintainers were getting swamped

Summary

COSMIC bans all LLM‑generated content in PRs — code, comments, and descriptions.
The rule requires contributors to certify no AI use, test changes, and accept review responsibility.
System76 enforces the ban to reduce maintainer overload from AI-submitted code and reports.

Whether or not 2026 will become the ‘year of Linux’ is highly debatable, but one thing that’s objectively true is that it’s the year when lines were drawn in the sand over AI use in Linux projects. Now, COSMIC is the latest development team to make its stance known, as it declares a hard pass on all LLM-created content, including comments and descriptions.

COSMIC brings the ban down on LLM-generated content

And it applies to every part of a pull request

Screenshot of the COSMIC desktop showing the applications menu

As spotted by Linuxiac, COSMIC has updated the rules for adding a pull commit to the project. Now, if you want to submit something to COSMIC, you need to first read the following text (take note of the first point):

I have not included any LLM (also known as AI) generated content in this PR, including code, comments, and descriptions.

I understand these changes in full and will be able to respond to review comments.

My change is accurately described in the commit message.

My contribution is tested and working as described.

I have read the Developer Certificate of Origin and certify my contribution under its conditions.

I have read and followed all of the above requirements. For more information, see our contributor guide.

Jeremy Soller of System76 said the rule was enforced due to the strain that LLM-submitted code and documentation put on maintainers. According to Soller, LLMs have allowed many first-time contributors to make their mark on COSMIC, but their entries were “unplanned and rarely accepted.”

COSMIC is far from alone in this problem; we saw Linux kernel contributors getting swamped, and Ubuntu speeding up its update schedule purely to get through the mountain of reports it’s getting in. However, unlike Linux and Ubuntu, which have given the green light to AI-generated content as long as it’s of high quality, System76’s solution to the problem is to outright ban it from submissions. However, it doesn’t seem like COSMIC is strictly against AI tool usage for non-generative use cases, such as finding bugs.