Re: Bits from DPL / Feedback on attracting newcomers
> On Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 09:29:08PM +0900, Charles Plessy wrote:
> > Last time I had to write a removal request I asked ChatGPT and it worked
> > well!
Le Wed, Dec 11, 2024 at 02:29:08PM +0000, Holger Levsen a écrit :
>
> is this debian-devel@ or -curiosa@? (&scnr)
Hi Holger and everybody,
it is a thread on debian-devel@ about how to attract newcomers, and what
I was trying to hint at in a clumsy way (sorry!) is that more and more
people in the pool of potential newcomers will have the use of LLMs part
of their routine and reflexes.
I think that we need to make ourselves ready for that generation and
here are a couple of thoughts about this:
- as of todays LLMs are also used to solve social problems. Think
about the joke of an office worker that uses a LLM to turn bullet
points in a nice report, sends it to boss, who uses a LLM to turn the
report to bullet points because no time. When people start to do so
in Debian, let's make sure we do not fingerpoint them but fix our
process instead. In case of the removal requests, it could be for
instance to provide a remote access to dak so that a developers with
an appropriate authentication system can remove their packages by
themselves.
I hear… « where is the patch? » but… do I have the skills to write it
alone?
- at work, not using LLMs to write code is like refusing to wear shoes
at the Olympics because Greeks did not and saying that shoes pollute
and the run is no less fun when everybody agreed to be bare feet.
True, but people taking this stance do not stay in competition. But
in Debian we have a problem: current commercial LLMs are
copyright-laundering machines and we do not want to use them to
develop our code. To attract newcomers I do not see any other option
than participating in the creation of Free LLMs that produce code
that we can use under the main copyright pardigms of the Free
software (GPL and MIT). The cheapest way is to clearly express a
desire for it to happen, and then of course, we can go futher
by relaying fundraising calls, participating to the costs,
publicising some of the unique features of our software archive such
as machine-readable copyright documentaiton listing GPL-compatible
source files that can be used to train a GPL LLM, etc.
I will not argue that this email really belongs do debian-devel@; the
whole discussion is rather more for debian-project@, but hopping beween
lists is confusing… for humans readers and for AI summarisers!
Have a nice day,
Charles
--
Charles Plessy Nagahama, Yomitan, Okinawa, Japan
Debian Med packaging team http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-med
Tooting from work, https://fediscience.org/@charles_plessy
Tooting from home, https://framapiaf.org/@charles_plessy
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