1 files changed, 54 insertions, 1 deletions
diff --git a/docs/devel/code-provenance.rst b/docs/devel/code-provenance.rst
index c25afed98d..b5aae2e253 100644
--- a/docs/devel/code-provenance.rst
+++ b/docs/devel/code-provenance.rst
@@ -282,4 +282,57 @@ boilerplate code template which is then filled in to produce the final patch.
 The output of such a tool would still be considered the "preferred format",
 since it is intended to be a foundation for further human authored changes.
 Such tools are acceptable to use, provided there is clearly defined copyright
-and licensing for their output.
+and licensing for their output. Note in particular the caveats applying to AI
+content generators below.
+
+Use of AI content generators
+~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
+
+TL;DR:
+
+  **Current QEMU project policy is to DECLINE any contributions which are
+  believed to include or derive from AI generated content. This includes
+  ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Llama and similar tools.**
+
+The increasing prevalence of AI-assisted software development results in a
+number of difficult legal questions and risks for software projects, including
+QEMU.  Of particular concern is content generated by `Large Language Models
+<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Large_language_model>`__ (LLMs).
+
+The QEMU community requires that contributors certify their patch submissions
+are made in accordance with the rules of the `Developer's Certificate of
+Origin (DCO) <dco>`.
+
+To satisfy the DCO, the patch contributor has to fully understand the
+copyright and license status of content they are contributing to QEMU. With AI
+content generators, the copyright and license status of the output is
+ill-defined with no generally accepted, settled legal foundation.
+
+Where the training material is known, it is common for it to include large
+volumes of material under restrictive licensing/copyright terms. Even where
+the training material is all known to be under open source licenses, it is
+likely to be under a variety of terms, not all of which will be compatible
+with QEMU's licensing requirements.
+
+How contributors could comply with DCO terms (b) or (c) for the output of AI
+content generators commonly available today is unclear.  The QEMU project is
+not willing or able to accept the legal risks of non-compliance.
+
+The QEMU project thus requires that contributors refrain from using AI content
+generators on patches intended to be submitted to the project, and will
+decline any contribution if use of AI is either known or suspected.
+
+This policy does not apply to other uses of AI, such as researching APIs or
+algorithms, static analysis, or debugging, provided their output is not to be
+included in contributions.
+
+Examples of tools impacted by this policy includes GitHub's CoPilot, OpenAI's
+ChatGPT, Anthropic's Claude, and Meta's Code Llama, and code/content
+generation agents which are built on top of such tools.
+
+This policy may evolve as AI tools mature and the legal situation is
+clarifed. In the meanwhile, requests for exceptions to this policy will be
+evaluated by the QEMU project on a case by case basis. To be granted an
+exception, a contributor will need to demonstrate clarity of the license and
+copyright status for the tool's output in relation to its training model and
+code, to the satisfaction of the project maintainers.