# LF Research report finds 25% of pull requests may be AI slop

> **Key takeaway:** A Linux Foundation report estimates that a quarter of incoming pull requests are low-quality AI-generated content, with higher rates in larger projects.

**Published:** 2026-10-22T17:50:00+00:00 
**Source:** It's FOSS Community News 
**Category:** distro-news 
**Canonical URL:** https://fosswire.org/news/lf-research-report-finds-25-of-pull-requests-may-be-ai-slop.html 

## Summary
A report from LF Research, sponsored by Red Hat, surveyed 234 contributors and maintainers regarding generative AI's impact on open source. The findings suggest that roughly 25% of pull requests are low-quality AI 'slop', rising to 31% in projects with over 50 contributors. While AI speeds up code authoring, it is increasing maintainer workload and burnout concerns.

## Impact of AI on maintainers
- **Large projects** (50+ contributors) see a 31% estimate of AI slop.
- **64% of maintainers** report that code reviews now take longer.
- **63% of maintainers** cite burnout as a top concern, followed by contribution quality (60%).
- **35% of projects** have formal AI use policies, while 32% have none and no plans for one.
- **26% of projects** lack any way to verify if a contribution was AI-assisted.
- **Code authoring** takes 52% less time on average, but complex tasks can take longer with AI.

## Why it matters
The rise of AI-generated contributions is creating a tension between increased developer velocity and the increasing burden of quality control and review for open source maintainers.