Last update: 15th September, 2025
This document tries to summarize the AI Usage Policy within PowerDNS Authoritative Server, Recursor and dnsdist, and the rationale behind it.
AI is a tool which, if used correctly, can benefit users and developers a lot. However, just like any other tool, it may be misused.
The current policy is as follows:
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The use of AI tools for code contributions is not allowed.
The rationale behind this is that there is no way to know whether the AI has been trained on code compatible with the GPL version 2 licence used by PowerDNS, and which persons should deserve credit for the output of the AI.
We are also seriously worried about the ability for AI-generated code to introduce subtle bugs or security issues (``to err is human; to really foul things up requires a computer'') and we definitely do not want to ever appear as a nominee on https://aidarwinawards.org/
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The use of AI tools for documentation contributions, as well as for submitting bug reports and support requests is allowed.
The rationale behind this is that an AI might be able to improve sentences and make them more readable. Of course it might also make things worse or introduce nonsense, so it should only be used for polishing texts, if at all.
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Be transparent about AI use, by which we mean that all uses of AI should be explicitly disclosed as such, so that if further issues related to AI use occur (ethics, intellectual property, ...) we know which contributions need to be checked.
This policy is in immediate effect.