OpenJDK Interim Policy on Generative AI

Many will argue that Oracle is overreacting, and they may not be entirely wrong. But as someone who reviews PRs for open source languages and tooling, their interim actions strike me as both sound and measured.

The number and size of AI-assisted PRs have reached a tipping point. Reviewing them already consumes a significant amount of time, and even filtering out the obvious ones is a drag. More importantly, the risk/reward balance is shifting in the wrong direction. For now, placing constraints on AI-assisted contributions feels like a sensible way to manage that risk.

Will this policy reject or slowdown otherwise beneficial PRs? Potentially. But that is the tradeoff. Until there is a better way to offset risk, this one is probably the least bad strategy.