I feel like I’m going crazy, because I distinctly remember checking out this project a couple of years ago (before they were called Linkwarden, and then when they renamed it) and noticing all the ai-looking commits (especially after the rename) in the repo so I wrote off the project. Also notice how OP doesn’t deny that they’re using it, just says he started the project before ChatGPT. I went through his profile and the AI profile picture and https://github.com/daniel31x13/gstack fork are pretty telling.
Let’s be honest, a lot of FOSS projects have been inundated with ai pull requests, and I looked at some that were merged. At least the dev looks like they’re being responsible about them. Look at the contributors for the last 6 months, claude is right there: https://github.com/linkwarden/linkwarden/commit/8bd3bd376316332693c5074a59dc3ab03559f1dc. Look at that contributor’s profile and website. For another one: https://github.com/linkwarden/linkwarden/pull/1553. Look at that user’s GitHub profile, look at the activity, look at his website. I’m not saying he’s not a good programmer or anything like that, but be for real, he’s absolutely using AI for his code, if not an ai agent of some sort.
I also find it hard to believe an app that features ai tagging wouldn’t also use ai. So it seems disingenuous to tag their Reddit post with “No AI” in r/selfhosted.
At the end of the day, I’m not personally invested, and they’re free to use ai in their project (it is a tool after all and can be used responsibly). But I’m really developing trust issues with how dodgy some projects are about disclosing their AI usage. Like just say you use it to debug, qa, brainstorm, or write your docs, and or that the outputs are actually reviewed by a person.
And I get it, I do, but I think what rubs me the wrong way is how cagey the dev is about AI disclosure.
Use it for your project, it’s open source (which allows me to see that AI is being used) and free to self-host. Like I mentioned previously, I do see the dev being pretty responsible about their usage from the few merge requests and individual commits I looked at.
Personally, I feel like FOSS is built on a foundation of trust, and I find it very hard to trust a dev/project that (in my opinion) lies by omission. So, while I won’t use/contribute/pay for this project, I’m not judging anyone who does and I wish y’all the best. At the end of the day, it’s your time, effort, money (if you donate and or pay for the hosted plan), and or hardware (if you choose to self-host).
Especially, after fiascos like Booklore (another project I now feel vindicated for writing off early) and the general trend of enshittification for almost all software and services, can you blame people for being a bit more skeptical?