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by christkv 11 days ago
Can GitHub add a tag to repositories that says "probably vibe coded" or "ai code detected"
3 comments

would you argue for an 'unsafe code' tag too, if it's attached to repos with C/C++?
Would have to be on all repositories I think.
you're not required to include code in your repos, some are just a collection of markdown files. those could be considered unsafe, but they're not code.

but i think you meant: tag all code repos as unsafe, because you assume all code is unsafe, and 1. i don't fully agree with that, and 2. that's half of my argument. 1. historically most languages bootstrapped their compilers with one of those, some eventually reaching the selfhosted milestone (ex: https://go.dev/doc/go1.5#implementation). 2. tagging repos with `unsafe code`, or if you prefer to stay with original `maybe vibes` tag, implies you have some level of confidence in the tag you are applying, and that you also can back that tag with some common understanding of its meaning. i do not think we have established what `vibed` or `ai coded` actually means. some know what their personal definition is, but it is not a shared understanding of the definition.

as matter of non-exhaustive sampling we currently have vibe coded and ai code, ai co-authored and ai completions/suggestions, and ai aided. which one should be picked? nevermind the term ai is fuzzy, but how do you even begin the process of classification? a process that by it self, is likely to use more of the dreaded ai technology. where would github draw the line for this tag, such that it avoids backlash from users?

pick your broad strokes: llm generated with no human revision; llm generated with human revision; llm wrote large parts of the change set, but a human made adjustments; lm generated small snippets — implying the contributor accepted the suggestions, llm aided with codebase understanding (RAG); lm picked symbol completion and types; ml model used for refactoring suggestions.

for github the question† is: what is important for a user that sees this tag? what does the user care for? how does that affect their decision process when considering using, or participating in a project.

there are much more interesting questions, than wether a repo accepts vibe coded contributions, still not easily answered. show me: total lines of code, or a ranking per language (only a percentage is currently displayed), code complexity stats, code churn, merged pull-requests vs total pull-requests, avg reviewers per pull-request, merge pull-request non-members vs members, mtt member reply on issues, mtt member reply/action on pull-requests, or split that between merged and non-merged pull-requests

† also github has been absorbed into a large proponent of ai, microsoft

GitHub shows the language used
So all the other languages are safe now?
is that what i wrote?
Then not why tag all of them?
Why would a proponent of AI with significant interest stigmatise AI like that?
We could tell the managers is so that we can avoid luddite software!
Requesting an AI code detector is peak cognitive dissonance. "AI automation is bad and I can always tell. That is why I need to have a tool to discriminate its presence so I can exclude it!" Split-brain patients have less post-hoc rationalization.