add guidelines for AI based contributions

[tomkralidis]

Overview

This PR updates project contributing guidelines with respect to AI-based contributions.

Related Issue / discussion

No PR, based on discussion and action at the pygeoapi meeting 2026-01-09

Additional information

None

Dependency policy (RFC2)

• I have ensured that this PR meets RFC2 requirements

Updates to public demo

• I have ensured that breaking changes to the pygeoapi master demo server have been addressed
  • https://github.com/geopython/demo.pygeoapi.io/blob/master/services/pygeoapi_master/local.config.yml

Contributions and licensing

(as per https://github.com/geopython/pygeoapi/blob/master/CONTRIBUTING.md#contributions-and-licensing)

• I'd like to contribute [feature X|bugfix Y|docs|something else] to pygeoapi. I confirm that my contributions to pygeoapi will be compatible with the pygeoapi license guidelines at the time of contribution
• I have already previously agreed to the pygeoapi Contributions and Licensing Guidelines

[kalxas]

I am strongly against this PR being merged without a PSC vote.
I believe there is a high risk of copyrighted code to be included in the code base from AI without us realizing it.
Please revert this merge until there is a PSC resolution

[webb-ben]

I am strongly against this PR being merged without a PSC vote. I believe there is a high risk of copyrighted code to be included in the code base from AI without us realizing it. Please revert this merge until there is a PSC resolution

As far as I understood, this was not intended to change pygeoapi's policy on AI usage. So much as to name the reality of AI usage in 2026 regardless of anyones particular stance. I will not chime in to what role the PSC should play, but I do think it prescient to draft some verbiage around this.

Perhaps it is a verbiage question but I read

* AI supported contributions are subject to the same contribution guidelines (license, copyright, coding standards, etc.) of the project.

as stating explicitly your concern. Perhaps the line I would have a question about is:

If and when AI is used, human supervision and oversight is strongly encouraged.

Regardless of who contributes code, there must be some responsible party validating the contribution meets pygeoapi community guidelines. I believe this to be the shared responsibility of both the contributor and the project maintainers.

[tomkralidis]

@kalxas I have reverted the change so we can have a larger discussion and decision by the PSC on the mailing list. Once we have a PSC decision, we can add accordingly.

[doublebyte1]

I am strongly against this PR being merged without a PSC vote. I believe there is a high risk of copyrighted code to be included in the code base from AI without us realizing it. Please revert this merge until there is a PSC resolution

IMHO this guideline is only making explicit that whatever requirements we do have for humans contributing code, these hold for AI contributed code; and that ultimately, the human will be the sole responsible for the code.

I think banning AI all together does not seem realistic, and will likely receive a push back from the community.

[francbartoli]

I am strongly against this PR being merged without a PSC vote. I believe there is a high risk of copyrighted code to be included in the code base from AI without us realizing it. Please revert this merge until there is a PSC resolution

IMHO this guideline is only making explicit that whatever requirements we do have for humans contributing code, these hold for AI contributed code; and that ultimately, the human will be the sole responsible for the code.

I think banning AI all together does not seem realistic, and will likely receive a push back from the community.

Does it make sense to ban commit created by github profiles of AI agents? This is IMHO the practical way to push formally the responsability and the copyright to the humans behind each and every agent.
Otherwise if agents are allowed to commit to the codebase the we should govern their contributions in the spirit and principles of Spec Driven Development.

[doublebyte1]

I am strongly against this PR being merged without a PSC vote. I believe there is a high risk of copyrighted code to be included in the code base from AI without us realizing it. Please revert this merge until there is a PSC resolution

IMHO this guideline is only making explicit that whatever requirements we do have for humans contributing code, these hold for AI contributed code; and that ultimately, the human will be the sole responsible for the code.
I think banning AI all together does not seem realistic, and will likely receive a push back from the community.

Does it make sense to ban commit created by github profiles of AI agents? This is IMHO the practical way to push formally the responsability and the copyright to the humans behind each and every agent. Otherwise if agents are allowed to commit to the codebase the we should govern their contributions in the spirit and principles of Spec Driven Development.

@francbartoli I like that idea, but is there a easy way to identify those PRs?

There is an interesting discussion going on about this on Reddit. Apparently curl is being DDosSed by AI slop.