What is more impactful about data science than web dev? I can tell you as someone who spent years coding C++, it's not 'better' or more impactful. My brother was into AI and got out because he didn't find it was impactful. AI sounds so cool on paper and documentaries, but at it's core it's just statistics and coding put together.
I got the first interpretation, but I think yours is what we should be talking about. The responsibility for this bug is not on the maintainer, more so on the company for accepting it into their codebase without any vetting.
This has parallels to unpaid internships and paying college athletes. Seems sketchy that companies are making money off of what are essentially volunteers.
I was going to say this. Most are just looking for some experience outside school/work and next thing you know they are the only one maintaining something big companies rely on.