System76 Bans AI-Generated Code in COSMIC Desktop Contributions

System76 has updated the Pull Request template for its Rust-based COSMIC desktop environment project, introducing a mandatory checklist that explicitly bans AI-generated code, comments, and pull request descriptions. The move highlights growing fatigue among open-source maintainers who spend excessive time reviewing context-blind, AI-generated code that appears functional but is difficult to maintain long-term. Following a similar policy enacted by the Ladybird browser project, this signals a broader trend in open-source project governance to protect reviewer time and code quality. The only repository exempted from System76's non-LLM policy is `cosmic-flatpak`, which manages desktop applets and extensions closely integrated with the COSMIC desktop. System76 noted that AI code generation tools frequently lack deep context of complex project architectures, leading to overly verbose code that inflates review overhead.