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

[Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>]

* Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> [2021-07-23 13:55]:
> > Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2021 13:12:12 +0300
> > From: Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>
> > Cc: Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>, Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>,
> >  emacs-tangents@gnu.org, rms@gnu.org
> > 
> > You are using artificial intelligence, but in fact pieces of codes are
> > in chunks copied from other sources without attribution and without
> > knowing if licenses are compatible.
> 
> 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. Even if modified, it still requires licensing
compliance. 

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

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? 

I also do not believe that AI extract algorithms, though AI has its
own algorithms to generate the relevant possible code.

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

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

https://fossa.com/blog/analyzing-legal-implications-github-copilot/

https://medium.com/geekculture/githubs-ai-copilot-might-get-you-sued-if-you-use-it-c1cade1ea229

https://fosspost.org/github-copilot/

https://artificialintelligence-news.com/2021/07/06/experts-debate-github-latest-ai-tool-violates-copyright-law/

https://www.opensourceforu.com/2021/07/github-copilot-sparks-debates-around-open-source-licenses/

That is just a small excerpt from a very large debat online related to
licensing issues. 



Jean

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