Major open source foundations have published AI contribution policies that span a spectrum from total bans (QEMU, Gentoo, NetBSD) to permissive disclosure requirements. A clear ecosystem-wide convention is emerging around the git commit trailer `Assisted-by:`, which accurately reflects the reality of AI-assisted development where a human author uses AI as a tool. Unlike `Co-authored-by:` (which implies legal personhood for AI) or `Generated-by:` (which overstates AI's role), `Assisted-by:` preserves human authorship for CLA/DCO purposes while providing machine-readable provenance. Linux Kernel, Fedora, LLVM, OpenTelemetry, OpenInfra, and Rocky Linux have all converged on this trailer in their published policies. Maintainers are advised to add a policy to CONTRIBUTING.md and adopt `Assisted-by:` before AI-assisted commits accumulate without traceability.
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Every major foundation has taken a position on AI-assisted code: some ban it, some require disclosure, and one git trailer is quietly becoming the standard.How open source projects are responding to AI contributions: A full spectrumWhy git commit trailers are the key to AI contribution governanceWhat major open source foundations actually say about AI contributionsWhy Assisted-by: is becoming the open source standard for AI disclosureWhat open source maintainers need to know about AI contribution policiesWhat’s next for AI governance in open sourceGet involved: AI contribution policies worth readingMore from We Love Open SourceAbout the AuthorSort: