Re: Help building Pen.el (GPT for emacs)

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2021 14:32:00 +0300
> From: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
> Cc: mullikine@gmail.com, stefan@marxist.se, emacs-tangents@gnu.org,
>   rms@gnu.org
> 
> > That's not what happens with these services: they don't _copy_ code
> > from other software (that won't work, because the probability of the
> > variables being called by other names is 100%, and thus such code, if
> > pasted into your program, will not compile).  What they do, they
> > extract ideas and algorithms from those other places, and express them
> > in terms of your variables and your data types.  So licenses are not
> > relevant here.
> 
> According to online reviews chunks of code is copied even verbatim and
> people find from where.

That cannot be true.  It is nonsense to copy unrelated code into a
program and tell people this is what they should use.

> If code compiles or not is irrelevant. If one runs it or not is also
> irrelevant, code need not even run.

A feature or service that is based on this idea will never fly,
believe me.  Which program would want to have code pasted into his/her
program that would cause compilation errors or, worse, break it at run
time?

> I do not believe that any of the AI-s so far "extract ideas". I never
> heard of it. Which algorithms is there on this planet that may extract
> idea? 

That's a very general question, it is impossible to answer it in a
post to a mailing list.  If you are really interested, you will have
to read up on that.  But you are wrong in your beliefs.

> If newly generated code is modification from other code, what we know
> now that it is, and is based on, that requires licensing
> attributions. 

Once again, your assumptions are all wrong, so your conclusions are
also wrong.  Why not try one of these services and see what they
actually do, before you pass your (quite harsh) judgment on them, and
on the modern state of AI in general?

> That licenses are relevant one can see from online discussions related
> to Github Copilot:

That people ask these questions and discuss this doesn't mean the
problem is real.  many people don't really understand what copyright
means and how to apply it to program code.  People also ask questions
about the GPL, and there's a vociferous group of people who think the
copyright assignment of code to the FSF means you give up all your
rights in the code you've written.  None of that is true, but still
the rumors and the heated discussions go on and on.  Their existence
proves nothing, except that some people misunderstand something.