Open-source game engine Godot is drowning in 'AI slop' code contributions: 'I don't know how long we can keep it up'

Open-source software development—the open, collaborative contribution of knowledge in the name of problem solving, bug fixing, feature development, and ongoing support—is a borderline utopian idea. But the advent of generative LLMs has forced the maintainers of projects like open-source game engine Godot to face a deluge of AI-generated code from would-be contributors who might not even understand the changes they're submitting.

In a Bluesky thread (via Game Developer), Rémi Verschelde—one of the primary maintainers of the Godot Github repository and co-founder of major Godot backer W4 Games—says the problem of "AI slop" pull requests, or requests to merge code changes with the project, is "becoming increasingly draining and demoralizing for Godot maintainers" as they're now forced to deliberate the trustworthiness and human authorship of an onslaught of LLM-generated contributions.

Honestly, AI slop PRs are becoming increasingly draining and demoralizing for #Godot maintainers.If you want to help, more funding so we can pay more maintainers to deal with the slop (on top of everything we do already) is the only viable solution I can think of:fund.godotengine.org

— @akien.bsky.social (@akien.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-02-17T21:25:12.382Z

"We find ourselves having to second guess every PR from new contributors, multiple times per day," Verschelde said. "The description is verbose LLM output; is the code written at least partially by a human? Does the 'author' understand the code they're sending? Did they test it? Are the test results made up?"

Even if Godot's maintainers are able to identify AI-generated code or description, Verschelde says that's often just the first of compounding complications.

"Is this code wrong because it was written by AI, or is it an honest mistake from an inexperienced human contributor?" Verschelde said. "What do you do when you ask a PR author if they used AI because you're suspicious, and they all reply 'yes I used it to write the PR description because I'm bad with English'?"

Verschelde says Godot "prides itself in being welcoming to new contributors, letting any engine user have the possibility to make an impact on their engine of choice." But navigating the accelerating rate of PRs that could jeopardize the project's health with faulty code or incomplete understanding is overtaxing the maintainers' finite capacity.

"Maintainers spend a lot of time assisting new contributors to help them get PRs in a mergeable state," Verschelde said. "I don't know how long we can keep it up."

Godot's maintainers are discussing and investigating solutions, including potential automated detection options—but Veschelde said it "seems horribly ironic" to have to turn to run AI-based solutions to "detect AI slop," because he's "really not keen on feeding the AI machinery."

Godot is also weighing the possibility of moving the project to another platform where there might be less incentive for users to "farm" legitimacy as a software developer with AI-generated code contributions. But moving to a less popular platform could run the risk of alienating legitimate contributors.

In January, Github acknowledged the "increasing volume of low-quality contributions that is creating significant operational challenges for maintainers," and said it's exploring both short- and long-term options for triaging the plague of AI PRs. The first of those rolled out last week, as Github now allows maintainers to limit pull requests to collaborators or disable them entirely.

But given that Github is owned by Microsoft—one of the world's most shameless AI boosters—one does wonder just how incentivized it truly is to curb the acceleration of AI-generated code flooding onto the platform.

Verschelde said that, ultimately, the best way to support the ability of projects like Godot to weather the flood of AI-generated pull requests is with financial support: "If you want to help, more funding so we can pay more maintainers to deal with the slop (on top of everything we do already) is the only viable solution I can think of."