AI-Generated PRs Are Drowning Open Source: Merging Now Requires Knowing a Maintainer
dbreunig · x · 2026-11-12
The author argues the biggest problem in open source today is the devaluing of the PR: every notable OSS project is drowning in AI-generated PRs, and the only reliable path to a merge is personally knowing a maintainer.
- At recent conferences, maintainers are constantly interrupted by people asking them to review PRs in person.
- People still spam because landing a PR is how newcomers build cred, become maintainers, and get jobs — any public route to value gets deluged by agents.
- PRs were the engine of OSS: how communities distilled discussion into artifacts. The open question: how do new programmers gain a foothold now?
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