Hi,
For IRTF, RFC 9775 (“IRTF Code of Conduct”) mentions this topic in the Research Integrity section as part of a discussion of misrepresentation of authorship. They key paragraph is:
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools and systems must not be
listed as authors of IRTF documents, presentations, or other
materials. The use of generative AI to create text or other content
is permitted but must be disclosed if significant amounts of such
content are included, for example through an acknowledgement
describing which AI system was used and how it contributed. The use
of AI to perform spelling or grammar checks and corrections, to
translate between languages, or to otherwise improve the presentation
of content need not be disclosed.
This broadly aligns with the ACM policy on use of generative AI in research papers. I’m unconvinced it would make sense as a policy for IETF to adopt for standards documents.
Colin
On 18 Aug 2025, at 13:50, Job Snijders wrote:
Dear all,
The IETF is committed to making all text available with a permissive
license and with appropriate attribution. A fantastic objective I
wholeheartedly support. As I understand things, generative AI/LLMs, by
their nature, are likely unable to provide the necessary assurances that
the generated material is compatible with the provisions of BCP 78
(RFC5378) or that the original authors are properly attributed.I can see that AI tooling is helping some folks with study & analysis,
(which is great for them!), however I am not sure that submitting an
internet-draft to the IETF that was (partially) generated using AI would
be a wise path to follow: I recently spotted someone who contemplated
submitting a 33,000+ word LLM-generated I-D for review to a working
group. The machine certainly was not a subject matter expert - but at
first glance it all looked legit, if such submissions were to happen
they'd have the potential to take up a lot of time resources.I personally would recommend working groups against adoption of AI
generated text (mostly because of the potential for issues related to
intellectual property). IMHO, handwritten originals are the way to go
when using the IETF publication venue! :)The FreeBSD project recently added some clarifications,
result: https://reviews.freebsd.org/differential/changeset/?ref=1420532
discussion: https://reviews.freebsd.org/D50650?id=156417Other entities also provided documentation on the topic:
https://www.linuxfoundation.org/legal/generative-ai
https://www.apache.org/legal/generative-tooling.htmlIs it documented somewhere for IETF newcomers that internet-draft
submissions should not contain LLM/AI generated text? I imagine that
similar clarifications for the IETF context along the lines of "text
about AI is fine, but text generated by AI has legal implications"
would be very helpful.Where can I point newcomers on this topic?
Kind regards,
Job
