The Document Foundation (TDF) says LibreOffice has no built-in AI features and that its core developers do not use large language models, but community contributors have submitted code this year that acknowledges assistance from tools such as Claude and GitHub Copilot. The admission appears to conflict with the project's public no-AI message, and some users are unhappy.
TDF, the primary maintainer of the free and open-source office suite since its fork from Oracle-controlled OpenOffice.org in 2010, has made the absence of built-in AI a selling point. In September, it published a blog post declaring that no AI is now a feature. The foundation also reported 9.4 million downloads of LibreOffice over eight weeks in October, excluding Windows updates and older releases.
Three commits identified by a user on the Fediverse demonstrate LLM involvement. Two from April credit Claude with identifying fixes for issues related to paragraph style font sizes and relative font sizes in Calc cell styles. A September commit acknowledges using GitHub Copilot in VS Code to generate a BitmapTransferable class, with the copyButtonHandler method written manually with LLM/code-completion assistance.
TDF's direct response on Mastodon was dismissive of the criticism. The foundation said: "No core developers use LLMs. We rely on contributions from the wider community and don't explicitly list tools people can't use – but we do require people disclose when they use LLMs and generally discourage the practice." It added that it carefully reviews submissions and that LLM use is prohibited for students. TDF spokesman Italo Vignoli pointed to the project's Development/AI policy and said there was no departure from public statements about LibreOffice 26.8, as those statements concerned user features rather than development.
Some LibreOffice users are unhappy. Argentine developer Federico Schonborn said: “When a bakery announces they won't put asbestos in their cake frosting you must not point out they're already putting asbestos in their cake filling, you see.” Skjeggtroll said: “It strikes me as odd to ban all use of LLM for the commit message, but still allow its use for the actual code.”
Some commenters have compared TDF's approach to the Debian approach: LLM coding assistants are permitted for some contributors subject to disclosure and human review, while core developers do not use them and they are prohibited for students.
Analysis
Why This Matters
- The debate reflects a growing tension in open-source projects between maintaining human-crafted code and accepting productivity gains from AI assistants
- LibreOffice's market position as an AI-free alternative to Microsoft Office and Google Workspace could be undermined if users perceive a gap between marketing and reality
- The project's policy may influence how other FOSS foundations handle LLM-generated contributions
Background
LibreOffice is the leading free and open-source office suite, forked in 2010 after Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems and took control of OpenOffice.org. The Document Foundation has since positioned the project as a community-driven alternative to proprietary office software. As LLM-based coding assistants have become widespread in recent years, many open-source projects have adopted policies to manage their use, balancing transparency with productivity.
Key Perspectives
The Document Foundation: Says no core developers use LLMs and that community contributions using AI assistants are subject to disclosure and review, with a general discouragement of the practice. It maintains that public statements about no AI refer to user features, not development tools.
Federico Schonborn (developer): Compares TDF's position to a bakery adding asbestos to cake filling while denying it in the frosting.
Skjeggtroll (user): Questions the logic of banning LLMs for commit messages while permitting their use for actual code.
What to Watch
- Whether TDF revises its AI policy to more clearly distinguish between community and core developer use
- Potential impact on LibreOffice's download numbers if user trust erodes
- How other major open-source projects (e.g., Debian, GNOME, KDE) respond to similar internal tensions over LLM use
Checked
12 claims in this story checked against 1 source: 12 supported.
Show each claim
- SupportedLibreOffice says core developers do not use LLMs, but patches do.www.theregister.com - Articles: “The Document Foundation (TDF) says LibreOffice has no built-in AI features and that its core developers do not use LLMs - but community contributors face different rules.”
- SupportedTDF says core developers do not use LLMs, while community patches acknowledge Claude and Copilot use.www.theregister.com - Articles: “Two of them – Inheritance when setting paragraph style font size to 100% or +0pt and Enable relative font sizes in Calc cell styles – date from April and credit Claude with helping identify the fixes. More recently, September's Add Copy Image button to screenshot dialog acknowledges using GitHub Copilot”
- SupportedLibreOffice has no built-in AI features.www.theregister.com - Articles: “The Document Foundation (TDF) says LibreOffice has no built-in AI features”
- SupportedThe core developers do not use LLMs.www.theregister.com - Articles: “Again: No core developers use LLMs.”
- SupportedCommunity contributors submitted code this year acknowledging assistance from tools such as Claude and GitHub Copilot.www.theregister.com - Articles: “someone who goes by the handle of argv[-1] highlights three LibreOffice commits this year that acknowledge the use of LLM coding assistants.”
- SupportedThe admission appears to conflict with the project's public no-AI message, and some users are unhappy.www.theregister.com - Articles: “However, since this admission does seem to contradict the very visible public no-AI message, some LibreOffice users are really rather unhappy.”
- SupportedTDF said: “No core developers use LLMs. We rely on contributions from the wider community and don't explicitly list tools people can't use – but we do require people disclose when they use LLMs and generally discourage the practice.”www.theregister.com - Articles: “Again: No core developers use LLMs. We rely on contributions from the wider community and don't explicitly list tools people can't use – but we do require people disclose when they use LLMs and generally discourage the practice.”
- SupportedTDF announced 9.4 million LibreOffice downloads over eight weeks in October, excluding Windows updates and older releases.www.theregister.com - Articles: “on October 21, TDF announced 9.4 million downloads over eight weeks – excluding Windows updates and downloads of older releases, which are counted separately.”
- SupportedThe September commit acknowledges Copilot use in VS Code to generate BitmapTransferable; copyButtonHandler was written manually with LLM/code-completion assistance.www.theregister.com - Articles: “September's Add Copy Image button to screenshot dialog acknowledges using GitHub Copilot in VS Code to generate the BitmapTransferable class, while the copyButtonHandler method was written manually with LLM/code-completion assistance.”
- SupportedTDF said it carefully reviews submissions and prohibits LLM use for students.www.theregister.com - Articles: “We carefully review submissions by contributors to make sure the code quality is good and that the patch author understands their own code. LLMs are prohibited for students.”
- SupportedFederico Schonborn said: “When a bakery announces they won't put asbestos in their cake frosting you must not point out they're already putting asbestos in their cake filling, you see.”www.theregister.com - Articles: “When a bakery announces they won't put asbestos in their cake frosting you must not point out they're already putting asbestos in their cake filling, you see.”
- SupportedSkjeggtroll said: “It strikes me as odd to ban all use of LLM for the commit message, but still allow its use for the actual code.”www.theregister.com - Articles: “It strikes me as odd to ban all use of LLM for the commit message, but still allow its use for the actual code.”
