Important

This is part of a Draft of the Python Contributor’s Guide. Text in square brackets are notes about content to fill in. Currently, the devguide and this new Contributor’s Guide co-exist in the repo. We are using Sphinx include directives to demonstrate the re-organization. The final Contributor’s Guide will replace the devguide with content in only one place. We welcome help with this!

The [Plan for the Contributor’s Guide] page has more details about the current state of this draft and how you can help. See more info about the Contributor Guide in the discussion forum: Refactoring the DevGuide.

[This is the existing Generative AI page from the devguide.]

Generative AI

Generative AI has evolved rapidly over the past decade and will continue in the future. Using generative AI and large language models (LLMs) can be helpful tools for contributors. Their overuse can also be problematic, such as generation of incorrect code, inaccurate documentation, and unneeded code churn. Discretion, good judgement, and critical thinking must be used when opening issues and pull requests.

Acceptable uses

Some of the acceptable uses of generative AI include:

  • Assistance with writing comments, especially in a non-native language

  • Gaining understanding of existing code

  • Supplementing contributor knowledge for code, tests, and documentation

Unacceptable uses

Maintainers may close issues and PRs that are not useful or productive, including those that are fully generated by AI. If a contributor repeatedly opens unproductive issues or PRs, they may be blocked.