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OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation Generative AI Policy

Based in Cilium Generative AI Policy.

To maintain the high quality and trustworthiness of contributions to the OpenTelemetry eBPF Instrumentation (OBI) community, we provide the following guidance on the use of "Generative Artificial Intelligence", including large language models (LLMs), GitHub Copilot, ChatGPT, Codex, Claude code, or similar tools ("Generative AI"). The guidance in this document is intended for all contributors to the community. As a Linux Foundation project, OBI is also subject to the Linux Foundation Guidance Regarding Use of Generative AI Tools. The guidance in this document is intended to support you as a contributor in addition to the Linux Foundation guidance.

1. Guiding Principle

OBI is a community-driven organization that values expertise, clear communication, and personal responsibility. The community prides itself on a commitment to high quality and trust amongst its members. To maintain this in the AI era, we follow a key principle:

What you do with Generative AI reflects on you.

Successful ongoing contribution to this community is contingent on building trust with the members of the organization through ongoing collaboration. Whether or not Generative AI tools were involved, you are fully accountable for the correctness, security, and clarity of your contributions. Human review is required for all code, including code generated or assisted by Generative AI tools. If you contribute regularly, other contributors will become familiar with your work, so we request that you mindfully consider the impact that your use of Generative AI may have on other community members.

2. Acceptable Use

We recognize that Generative AI can be a helpful tool, for example you may use it to:

  • Explain parts of the codebase you don’t understand;
  • Auto-complete routines or boilerplate code (such as error handling, test scaffolding, function signatures);
  • Reformat or refactor existing content;
  • Brainstorm ideas for implementation cases, but write the actual code yourself;
  • Draft test cases which you subsequently review, revise and simplify before submission; or
  • Analyze your own content submissions.

These uses are acceptable provided you:

  1. Are involved in the entire process for creating the contributions;
  2. Personally review and edit generated content before you submit it to the organization;
  3. Fully understand and review the content prior to submission;
  4. Take personal responsibility for the content, in the same way as if you authored the content without using Generative AI;
  5. Ensure the output adheres to project guidelines and licensing requirements; and
  6. Report the use of Generative AI tools for non-trivial preparation of submissions (that is, at level 2 or higher on the AI Influence Level).

3. Unacceptable Use

It is not acceptable to use Generative AI tools to:

  1. Communicate in any OBI community space with content that is substantially written using Generative AI tools. For example, it is not acceptable to send such text on Slack or GitHub, whether initiating or responding to discussion with other community members.
  2. Submit code, documentation, or discussion content that you have not reviewed in careful detail, including testing the content where applicable.
  3. Rely solely or primarily on Generative AI output for technical problem solving, architectural decision making.
  4. Submit work produced via Generative AI tooling that copies from external sources without correct attribution or licensing.
  5. Submit contributions where you cannot explain, contextualize, or justify the submission as part of review.

4. Generative AI for Translation

If you are interacting in a OBI community space which primarily uses a language which you are not fluent in, community members will generally appreciate your attempts to express your ideas in that language without the use of Generative AI tools. However, we recognize that contributors from around the world may want to participate in discussion in the OBI community, and the community can benefit from those discussions even if Generative AI is used to facilitate those discussions. When communicating in a language you are not confident in, consider drafting your intended response and attempt to convey your ideas in the target language first. If you believe the ideas are not conveyed clearly, consider using translation tools (either non-generative or generative). Be aware that if you rely significantly on Generative AI for translation, this itself may inhibit communication due to limitations in Generative AI tooling.

5. Transparency & Attribution

We generally expect contributors to declare when Generative AI was used to prepare a submission. For non-trivial text or code submissions (such as new features, documentation pages, complex design proposals), you should describe how Generative AI was used and explain the human review process applied. For trivial use of Generative AI (such as spelling check or simple autocomplete) you are not expected to declare use. Suspected use of Generative AI tooling without transparency may lead to submissions being closed or rejected without discussion.

DCO and Licensing

The EasyCLA signature is required for contributions to the OBI organization. AI tools often lack transparency into their training data and may produce output with pre-existing copyright. If you submit AI-assisted contributions, you are personally certifying that you have the right to contribute the content under the project's license. The Linux Foundation Guidance Regarding Use of Generative AI Tools provides a more detailed description of your obligations as a contributor. If you’re unsure about the licensing of code you created using Generative AI tools, don’t submit it.