GNOME Circle as the initiative for third-party/independent software applications and libraries extending the GNOME desktop ecosystem is taking a stand against AI slop. The GNOME Circle policy has been updated to reject low-effort, vibe coded applications/libraries where the developer is not able to take responsibility for the work.

The GNOME Circle Committee decided to update its AI policy in a move that aligns with already-applied policy for low-effort GNOME Shell extensions. Due to low-quality, machine-generated code, GNOME Circle is enforcing new standards for new Circle submissions. AI usage isn't banned outright but limited to being a learning aid or development tool to assist the developer(s) that ultimately need to take responsibility and understanding in the code.

GNOME Circle's new AI policy comes down to:

"Follow's Circle's AI policy: While it is not prohibited to use AI as a learning aid or a development tool (i.e. code completions), app developers should be able to justify and explain the code they submit, within reason. Submissions with large amounts of unnecessary code, inconsistent code style, imaginary API usage, comments serving as LLM prompts, or other indications of AI-generated output will be rejected."

The updated AI policy was further explained in this blog post on Friday serving as an update from the GNOME Circle Committee. In polling current Circle maintainers, 34% reported to using small amounts of AI/LLMs, 62% did not use any LLMs, and 3% are making extensive use of LLMs.

This Week in GNOME also outlined GNOME Maps now having support for downloading map areas for offline use, Resources was accepted into GNOME Incubator for Resources potentially replacing System Monitor in GNOME 51, and the RustConn app continues to be improved.

Rounding out the week and month was even a new Solitaire release this week for GNOME desktop users.