Godot Bans AI-Generated Code Contributions: 'We Can't Trust Heavy Users of AI'

The Godot open source game engine has officially stopped accepting AI-authored code contributions. In a decision announced today, maintainers stated they cannot trust heavy users of AI to understand their code well enough to fix it. The move follows months of debate within the community about the rising tide of low-quality AI-generated pull requests, which maintainers had previously described as 'increasingly draining and demoralizing' for code reviewers.

Background

In February, the Godot team acknowledged the problem of AI slop PRs flooding the project. They deliberated on how to address the issue, weighing the potential benefits of AI assistance against the significant costs to reviewer morale and project quality. Now, after months of internal discussion, the ban is official.

Key Points

• Ban effective immediately: All AI-generated contributions are no longer accepted.
• Rationale: Heavy AI users often cannot explain or fix their own code, making reviews unsustainable.
• Impact on community: The ban aims to reduce the burden on volunteer reviewers and maintain code quality.

Godot powers notable games such as Slay the Spire 2 and The Case of the Golden Idol. The decision sets a precedent for other open source projects grappling with similar issues. AI coding tools, while useful for prototyping and boilerplate, often produce code that is hard to maintain, debug, or integrate into a complex codebase without human expertise.