AI gives you answers. Communities give you people.

AI is changing why people come to our communities,
how they find us,
and how they interact with each other.

Three stories. For each one:
🛠 an idea for community managers · 💬 an idea for community members

From information to judgment and trust

📖 LatinR · from a Slack message in 2017 to 9 editions in 2026

RLadies+ at the first LatinR in Argentina, 2018

🛠 For community managers

Your value is moving from information to judgment and trust: knowing who, and trusting them enough to build something together.

💬 For community members

AI gives you answers. Here you find people you can trust, and build with.

Build intentional on-ramps

The help question was an accidental on-ramp. It’s weakening.

📖 Andrea Gómez Vargas · ARcenso · rOpenSci Champion

Luis (Andrea’s mentor), Emaunel (ARCenso author), Patricia (champions), Andrea (Champion, mentor, ARCenso author), Pao (Champion, instructor, mentor), Jeroen (R-Universe Lead) at R Sprint 2026

🛠 For community managers

Design on-ramps that don’t depend on someone being stuck: calls, coworking, cohorts, hackathons, group reviews, and a “good first review” alongside “good first issue.”

💬 For community members

Come to an event. Share a use case, write about your thing, give feedback. No question needed.

ARcenso: a Package Born From Chaos, Powered by Community

Rewrite the social contract

📖 rOpenSci software peer review in the era of AI

🛠 For community managers

Write down new norms: transparency about AI use from everyone, human judgment in every human conversation, and the freedom to choose where to give your time. Start with a first version; iterate in the open.

💬 For community members

Here, people give you their time to help you grow. Show up as yourself, responsible for any AI content you share. Our reviewers are here to help you, not to validate AI-generated code.

ropensci.org/blog/2026/02/26/ropensci-ai-policy

Recently, rOpenSci received a package from a teacher who wanted his students’ work to live beyond the semester. It was his first package, built with heavy AI support, and submitted before we had any AI policy. The review was tricky. One reviewer decline (they didn’t want to review machine generated code). Our editor did a great job and kept asking for what we always ask: explain your decisions, point to each change, own your code, answer with your voice. And the author did it. The package passed review.

Here’s the tension. If we had closed the door on AI-built packages, we would have left out this teacher and his students. If we accept everything without norms, we burn out the volunteers who make review possible.

POINT: The old contract was unwritten: someone gives you their time, and you bring your own thinking. AI strains it. So beyond the contract, we need new norms for living together.

AI gives you answers. Communities give you people.

AI answers can be wrong. Connecting with people never is.

Resources

rOpenSci, Software Review in the Era of AI: What We Are Testing (2026)
Andrea Gómez Vargas & Emanuel Ciardullo, ARcenso: a Package Born From Chaos, Powered by Community (useR! 2025)
rOpenSci Champions Program
LatinR
rOpenSci anniversary series with examples of contributions and a path in a community beyond coding
Teaching Targets with Penguins
Why ggseg Atlases Became Function Calls