AMD has just been accused of using AI-generated source code that is full of 'bugs'.

After AMD released a new patch for its FFmpeg video encoding engine, one programmer commented that the source code looked like it was created by AI.

AMD has been directly accused of sending unverified, AI-generated source code to one of the oldest open-source software projects. The project was so unhappy with the code that they took to social media to complain about "your sloppy AI code."

The project in question is FFmpeg, a video and audio processing tool along with a suite of related libraries and programs. It's used in various roles to perform video and audio transcoding operations in applications like Chrome, Handbrake, OBS Studio, and VLC Media Player. It's safe to say this is an important project that AMD wants to maintain a good relationship with.

The use of AI to assist in writing various types of programming code is not a unique issue; in fact, it is rapidly becoming commonplace. However, it has been established that any code generated by AI needs to be checked by humans to ensure it works correctly, and ideally, is optimized and suitable for its intended purpose. This final step may have been overlooked by AMD in the FFmpeg project.

Zhao Zilli, a developer on the project, commented on the new code submitted by AMD, saying, 'Please ensure you thoroughly manually review all AI-generated code before submitting.' They then pointed out several aspects of the code that could be indicative of a reviewer failing to thoroughly check for redundant comments and non-standard programming techniques. 'AI-generated code is often verbose; it requires the developer's own review and editing,' Zilli concluded.

The situation escalated when a member of the FFmpeg team, who had access to their X account, screenshotted this comment and posted it: 'Hi @AMD. FFmpeg developer @quink_lamy is unhappy with your sloppy AI patches.'

However, importantly, the AMD developer who posted the article refuted these allegations, stating: "In my experience, those steps […] are necessary. This has nothing to do with AI or humans. This is really my own experience and approach."