Policy recommendations

DRAFT DOCUMENT

This document is an UNOFFICIAL DRAFT and should not be considered official policy. Substantial changes may be made before being published as an official policy. Direct any questions to discuss@rai.apache.org.

Policy recommendations for AI-assisted contributions

This page summarizes the Apache Software Foundation's guidance and key recommendations for contributors who use AI tools when contributing code, documentation, or other material to Apache projects.

The Apache-ai commit tag

The Apache-ai tag is a voluntary disclosure mechanism. When added to a commit, it signals that AI played a significant role in generating the contribution.

What it is

A tag in the commit message body, following the conventional key: value format used by Git trailer tags.
A disclosure, not a warranty or a restriction. It tells downstream users the story without imposing additional legal obligations.
Recognized by the ASF as a best practice for transparency, but it is not yet a mandatory requirement across all projects.

When to use it

Situation	Recommendation
AI generated significant portions of code (core logic, large functions)	Use the tag — it is strongly recommended
AI helped generate documentation or prose	Consider the tag — use it if the AI substantially rewrote the text
AI assisted incidentally (suggested a single fix you heavily edited)	Optional — use it if you want to be thorough
You are unsure	Use it — it is a disclosure, not a liability

Example

Apache-ai: This contribution contains code significantly generated
by an AI tool. See AI tagging policy for details.

Key recommendations

Be transparent about AI tooling used. Name the tool in your commit message using the Generated-by: token (e.g., Generated-by: Claude-3.5-Sonnet). This helps future provenance-tracking tools.
Verify tool terms are compatible with Apache License 2.0. Check the terms of service for your AI tool. Some tools grant the provider broad rights over your input (your code) and output (the generated code). Make sure these terms do not conflict with contributing under the Apache License 2.0.
Understand that AI-generated-only content may not be copyrightable. Under US law, only natural persons can be authors. Purely AI-generated material may not receive copyright protection. This does not prevent you from contributing it — but it is important for downstream users to know what is protected.
Maintain human oversight and editorial control. You are responsible for what you commit. Review AI-generated code, understand it, and be able to explain what it does. The authored-by: tag for the human who made the creative decisions is the standard and safe approach.
Use attribution tags consistently. Use authored-by: for the human author, co-authored-by: for other humans, and consider ai-assisted-by: for AI tools. Consistency helps the community understand how AI is being used.
Document AI use in commit messages. Use the Generated-by: token and describe what the AI produced and how you reviewed or edited it. This provides the provenance record that future tooling and reviewers need.
Be aware of the EU AI Act. If you or your project uses AI in ways that reach EU audiences (e.g., public-facing chatbots, AI-drafted public-interest content), review the transparency obligations under Article 50 of Regulation (EU) 2024/1689. See EU AI Act and copyright for details.

This is guidance, not binding policy

The recommendations on this page are guidance, not binding policy. Individual Apache projects remain self-governing under the Apache Way and may adopt, adapt, or ignore these recommendations as they see fit. The initiative offers these as shared good practices, and projects are encouraged to discuss them on the mailing list.

Cross-reference: all best practices pages

Topic	Page
Guidelines for contributing AI-generated code	AI-generated code in Apache projects
US copyright law and AI	US copyright law and AI
EU AI Act and copyright	EU AI Act and copyright
Attribution tags	"Authored by" and "Co-authored" Tags
Commit message conventions	Commit messages for AI-assisted code

Back to Best practices.