Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft
> And no, AI isn't perfect. But Christ, anybody who points to the
problems at AI had better be looking in the mirror and pointing at
themselves at the same time.Which translates to: AI isn’t perfect but if you find any problem with it, it’s your fault, which mean that AI doesn’t have any problems, and it actually perfect.
I don’t know why we keep giving credit to someone who’s clearly so up his own ass that is incapable of spotting the logical fallacies in his own arguments.
The Linux kernel has been resilient towards AI slop for the simple sheer amount of contributions that already has to manage, but if projections are correct they’ll soon be drowning in slop patches. And when they do I’d be curious to see how Linus will justify the “it’s just a tool” line.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft can't blame an employee for saying job will be done
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I wonder how practical it is to maintain a fork of Linux without any AI generated code.
@futureisfoss @nixCraft
I would NOT want a distro with AI crap in it, that's for sure! -
@thejessiekirk @nixCraft They have no org-wide policy, the projects are supposed to handle it themselves. Krita bans GenAI, while other projects like KDE Connect already started integrating slop code.
I was really disappointed to find out. There is one large forum thread in the KDE forum about it, but nothing more.
@tsrberry @thejessiekirk @nixCraft well shit. I hadn't heard that.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft I disagree with the personal framing around it, as much as I can disagree about it being a useful creative tool for software development - economics, environmental & social impact issues aside.
He's made very clear arguments of it being a tool like any other tool and he doesn't want to bring in other arguments into the mix. As a maintainer that's his prerogative.
I don't think he's taking this stand because Microsoft or Oracle is paying his salary. Silly thing to say.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft Theo de Raadt about AI in the OpenBSD project:
https://marc.info/?l=openbsd-tech&m=177425035627562&w=2
“Lacking Copyright (or similarily a Public Domain declaration by a human), we don't receive sufficient rights grants which would permit us to include it into the aggregate body of source code, without that aggregate body becoming less free than it is now.”
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Linux foundation members are listed companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and others. So I am not surprised that he is backing up his employer who pays his salary.
Other day Star Wars creators George Lucas recently endorsed AI in filmmaking, SAYING it is the "future" of cinema and comparing the rejection of AI to preferring a horse and buggy over a car. He argued that AI makes the creative process easier and that embracing progress is inevitable.
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Linux foundation members are listed companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and others. So I am not surprised that he is backing up his employer who pays his salary.
Other day Star Wars creators George Lucas recently endorsed AI in filmmaking, SAYING it is the "future" of cinema and comparing the rejection of AI to preferring a horse and buggy over a car. He argued that AI makes the creative process easier and that embracing progress is inevitable.
Nah, I don't think it's because of corporate interests. He's just a jerk and a prick, like all the high-ranking people who work in tech, apparently.
He doesn't sound like someone defending corporation, but rather like a guy who thinks he's smarter than the smartest of the smart and to whom other people's opinions are indistinguishable from white noise.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft wasnt he dissing AI like. half a year ago?
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft There's a huge difference between basic automation and feeding corporate data monopolies.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft I think Linus's main points were:
1. AI exists
2. Arguing about it is as pointless as it is tedious. -
Nah, I don't think it's because of corporate interests. He's just a jerk and a prick, like all the high-ranking people who work in tech, apparently.
He doesn't sound like someone defending corporation, but rather like a guy who thinks he's smarter than the smartest of the smart and to whom other people's opinions are indistinguishable from white noise.
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@nixCraft Is Generative AI a tool? Yes
Is it useful? Maybe for some things like finding bugs.
Is it like any other tool? Clearly not. It is built on top of massive theft and extreme resource waste. It's increasing the pricing of consumer electronics to absurd levels. And it's driving the economy and climate to collapse.
I am not surprised Linus doesn't care about the ethics. He picked GPL license for the kernel almost by chance, not because he thought about the ethics behind it.@doragasu @nixCraft recommend this piece as well
https://www.frank.computer/blog/2025/05/just-a-tool.html -
@nixCraft Well, he is right. It is just a tool.
A contentious, environment-wracking, intellectual-property-ignoring, potentially global-economic-market-racking tool; but still just a tool.
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Linux foundation members are listed companies like Microsoft, Google, IBM, and others. So I am not surprised that he is backing up his employer who pays his salary.
Other day Star Wars creators George Lucas recently endorsed AI in filmmaking, SAYING it is the "future" of cinema and comparing the rejection of AI to preferring a horse and buggy over a car. He argued that AI makes the creative process easier and that embracing progress is inevitable.
@nixCraft Lucas's films are pretty formulaic anyway. No surprise he likes AI.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft I dislike it as well, on many levels, but there are several tipping points this year (2026) IMHO that can't be hand waved off. Think of both the rise in bug submission reports, and record number of patches for Windows etc also how it has sped up discovery to exploit window for black hats https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/microsoft-patches-a-record-570-security-flaws/
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@nixCraft I dislike it as well, on many levels, but there are several tipping points this year (2026) IMHO that can't be hand waved off. Think of both the rise in bug submission reports, and record number of patches for Windows etc also how it has sped up discovery to exploit window for black hats https://krebsonsecurity.com/2026/07/microsoft-patches-a-record-570-security-flaws/
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft Linus is just a tool and he's used wrong.
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Linus Torvalds: “I realize that some people really dislike AI, but this is an area where I'm willing to absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer.
Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects, and if somebody has issues with that, they can do the open-source thing and fork it.
Or just walk away.”
@nixCraft Perhaps it's time to switch to HURD
