6 ms·

This is why its astonishing to me that AI has passed any legal department. I regularly see AI output large chunks of code that are 100% plagiarised from a proje

by 20k 8mo ago

This is why its astonishing to me that AI has passed any legal department. I regularly see AI output large chunks of code that are 100% plagiarised from a project - its often not hard to find the original source by just looking up snippets of it. 100s of lines of code just completely stolen Ai doesn't actually wash licenses, it literally can't. Companies are just assuming they're above the law

thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
This is oft-repeated but never backed up by evidence. Can you share the snippet that was plagiarized?
- vohk 8mo ago
  I can't offer an example of code, but considering researchers were able to cause models to reproduce literary works verbatim, it seems unlikely that a git repository would be materially different. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/ai-memorization-research/685552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/ai-memorizati...
  - thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
    Assuming that even works from a researcher's perspective, it's working back from a specific goal. There's 0 actual instances (and I've been looking) where verbatim code has been spat out. It's a convenient criticism of LLMs, but a wrong one. We need to do better.
    - latexr 8mo ago
      > There's 0 actual instances (and I've been looking) where verbatim code has been spat out. That’s not true. I’ve seen it happen and remember reports where it was obvious it happened (and trivial to verify) because the LLM reproduced the comments with source information. Either way, plagiarism doesn’t require one to copy 100% verbatim (otherwise every plagiarist would easily be off the hook). It still counts as plagiarism if you move a space or rename a variable. https://xcancel.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554 https://xcancel.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554 https://xcancel.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309 https://xcancel.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309 > We need to do better. I agree. We have to start by not dismissing valid criticisms by appealing to irrelevant technicalities which don’t excuse anything.
      - thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
        Ok you win. You should take your findings to the large media organizations including NYT who've been trying to prove this for years now. Your discovery is probably going to win them their case.
        dayjaby 8mo ago
        Why so cynic? This is a serious issue. And media coverage has nothing to do with the immoral state of the art of ignoring copyrights.
    - thechao 8mo ago
      I don't know code examples, but this tracks, for me. Anytime I have an agent write something "obvious" and crazy hard -- say a new compiler for a new language? Golden. I ask it to write a fairly simple stack invariant version of an old algorithm using a novel representation (topology) using a novel construction (free module) ... zip. It's 200loc, and after 20+ attempts, I've given up.
  - jmt710 8mo ago
    These arguments absolutely infuriate me. You're code is not that unique. Lots of people write the same snippet everyday and have no idea that somebody else just wrote the same thing. It's such a crock that you can somehow claim you're the only person who can write that snippet and now everyone else owes you something. No. No they don't. Get over it. Writing a book is different. Lifting pages or chapters is different because it's much harder for two people to write the exact same thing. Code is code, it follows a formula and a everyone uses that formula.
    - 20k 8mo ago
      Writing an exact copy of a nontrivial function by mistake is so rare that i've never seen it happen in 20 years of programming
- bayindirh 8mo ago
  While this is from 2022, here you go: https://x.com/docsparse/status/1581461734665367554 https://x.com/docsparse/status/1581461734665367554 I'm sure if someone prompts correctly, they can do the same thing today. LLMs can't generate something they don't know.
  - thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
    That you had to look and find this from 2022 proves my point..
    - bayindirh 8mo ago
      Nope. That was a handy bookmark. I keep a list of these incidents, and other things: https://notes.bayindirh.io/notes/Lists/Discussions+about+Artificial+Intelligence https://notes.bayindirh.io/notes/Lists/Discussions+about+Art... I have another handful of links to add to this list. Had no time to update recently.
  - deleted 8mo ago
    [deleted]
- IX-103 8mo ago
  It happens often enough that the company I work for has set up a presubmit to check all of the AI generated and AI assisted code for plagiarism (which they call "recitation"). I know they're checking the code for similarity to anything on GitHub, but they could also be checking against the model's their training corpus.
rjsw 8mo ago
If the LLM was trained on any GPL licenced code then there is an argument that all output is GPL too, legal departments should be worried.
- graemep 8mo ago
  I am not aware of any argument for that. Even if the output is a derivative work (which is very doubtful) that would make it a breach of copyright to distribute it under another license, not automatically apply the GPL. If the output is a derivative work of the input then you would be in breach of copyright if the training data is GPL, MIT, proprietary - anything other than public domain or equivalent.
direwolf20 8mo ago
It's not about following the law — it's about avoiding penalties in practice. Did they get penalised? Is anyone getting penalised? No? Then there's no reason for legal to block it. And remember when you put the GPL license on a project, that's only worth your willingness to sue anyone who violates, otherwise your project is public domain.
- danielray324 8mo ago
  [dead]
johnthescott 8mo ago
> by just looking up snippets of it a fix might be for ai to cite sources accurately. > Companies are just assuming they're above the law and so far they appear to be above the law.

by 20k 8mo ago

thedevilslawyer 8mo ago

This is oft-repeated but never backed up by evidence. Can you share the snippet that was plagiarized?

vohk 8mo ago
I can't offer an example of code, but considering researchers were able to cause models to reproduce literary works verbatim, it seems unlikely that a git repository would be materially different. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/ai-memorization-research/685552/ https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/2026/01/ai-memorizati...
- thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
  Assuming that even works from a researcher's perspective, it's working back from a specific goal. There's 0 actual instances (and I've been looking) where verbatim code has been spat out. It's a convenient criticism of LLMs, but a wrong one. We need to do better.
  - latexr 8mo ago
    > There's 0 actual instances (and I've been looking) where verbatim code has been spat out. That’s not true. I’ve seen it happen and remember reports where it was obvious it happened (and trivial to verify) because the LLM reproduced the comments with source information. Either way, plagiarism doesn’t require one to copy 100% verbatim (otherwise every plagiarist would easily be off the hook). It still counts as plagiarism if you move a space or rename a variable. https://xcancel.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554 https://xcancel.com/DocSparse/status/1581461734665367554 https://xcancel.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309 https://xcancel.com/mitsuhiko/status/1410886329924194309 > We need to do better. I agree. We have to start by not dismissing valid criticisms by appealing to irrelevant technicalities which don’t excuse anything.
    - thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
      Ok you win. You should take your findings to the large media organizations including NYT who've been trying to prove this for years now. Your discovery is probably going to win them their case.
      - dayjaby 8mo ago
        Why so cynic? This is a serious issue. And media coverage has nothing to do with the immoral state of the art of ignoring copyrights.
  - thechao 8mo ago
    I don't know code examples, but this tracks, for me. Anytime I have an agent write something "obvious" and crazy hard -- say a new compiler for a new language? Golden. I ask it to write a fairly simple stack invariant version of an old algorithm using a novel representation (topology) using a novel construction (free module) ... zip. It's 200loc, and after 20+ attempts, I've given up.
- jmt710 8mo ago
  These arguments absolutely infuriate me. You're code is not that unique. Lots of people write the same snippet everyday and have no idea that somebody else just wrote the same thing. It's such a crock that you can somehow claim you're the only person who can write that snippet and now everyone else owes you something. No. No they don't. Get over it. Writing a book is different. Lifting pages or chapters is different because it's much harder for two people to write the exact same thing. Code is code, it follows a formula and a everyone uses that formula.
  - 20k 8mo ago
    Writing an exact copy of a nontrivial function by mistake is so rare that i've never seen it happen in 20 years of programming
bayindirh 8mo ago
While this is from 2022, here you go: https://x.com/docsparse/status/1581461734665367554 https://x.com/docsparse/status/1581461734665367554 I'm sure if someone prompts correctly, they can do the same thing today. LLMs can't generate something they don't know.
- thedevilslawyer 8mo ago
  That you had to look and find this from 2022 proves my point..
  - bayindirh 8mo ago
    Nope. That was a handy bookmark. I keep a list of these incidents, and other things: https://notes.bayindirh.io/notes/Lists/Discussions+about+Artificial+Intelligence https://notes.bayindirh.io/notes/Lists/Discussions+about+Art... I have another handful of links to add to this list. Had no time to update recently.
- deleted 8mo ago
  [deleted]
IX-103 8mo ago
It happens often enough that the company I work for has set up a presubmit to check all of the AI generated and AI assisted code for plagiarism (which they call "recitation"). I know they're checking the code for similarity to anything on GitHub, but they could also be checking against the model's their training corpus.

rjsw 8mo ago

If the LLM was trained on any GPL licenced code then there is an argument that all output is GPL too, legal departments should be worried.

graemep 8mo ago
I am not aware of any argument for that. Even if the output is a derivative work (which is very doubtful) that would make it a breach of copyright to distribute it under another license, not automatically apply the GPL. If the output is a derivative work of the input then you would be in breach of copyright if the training data is GPL, MIT, proprietary - anything other than public domain or equivalent.

direwolf20 8mo ago

It's not about following the law — it's about avoiding penalties in practice. Did they get penalised? Is anyone getting penalised? No? Then there's no reason for legal to block it. And remember when you put the GPL license on a project, that's only worth your willingness to sue anyone who violates, otherwise your project is public domain.

danielray324 8mo ago
[dead]

johnthescott 8mo ago

> by just looking up snippets of it a fix might be for ai to cite sources accurately. > Companies are just assuming they're above the law and so far they appear to be above the law.