Google Pauses Bug Bounty Over AI Slop

Google has temporarily frozen its open source bug bounty program, citing a substantial increase in automated submissions generated by artificial intelligence. According to TechCrunch, the company halted the Open Source Software Vulnerability Rewards Program on October 1, with plans to provide a status update during the first quarter of 2027.

Google engineers and project maintainers were reportedly overwhelmed by a high volume of invalid reports and model hallucinations. The company stated that the pause is a direct result of the dramatic rise in automated entries that lacked actual security vulnerabilities. Cybersecurity professionals had previously warned that generative AI tools could flood vulnerability reporting pipelines with low quality noise, straining the review capacity of developer teams.

While this specific open source program is on hold, Google indicated that participants can still submit security findings through its other active bug bounty initiatives. The temporary shutdown highlights the growing operational challenges facing developer infrastructure and engineering teams as automated content generation complicates code review and software maintenance workflows.

Based on reporting by techcrunch.com.