Linux creator and top maintainer Linus Torvalds posted on the Linux kernel mailing list this week (coverage ~July 16–17, 2026) reaffirming that Linux is not an “anti-AI” project and saying he is “willing to absolutely put my foot down” in support of using AI tools to improve the kernel.
Key statements (Torvalds):
- “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.”
- “We’re not forcing anybody to use [LLM tools], but I will very loudly ignore people who try to argue against other people from using it.”
- Position “based on technical merit. Not fear of new tools.”
- “AI is a tool, just like other tools we use. And it’s clearly a useful one. It may not have been that ‘clearly’ even just a year ago, but it’s no longer in question today. … Anybody who doubts that clearly hasn’t actually used it.”
- On AI flaws: “Anybody who points to the problems at AI had better be looking in the mirror and pointing at themselves at the same time. Because it’s not like natural intelligence is always all that great either.”
Thread context: Debate over Sashiko, an “agentic Linux kernel code review system” claiming to find 53.6% of bugs that humans later fix in commits, with false-positive rate “well within [the] 20% range.” Maintainers worried about floods of automated AI bug-report emails.
SFC contrast: Software Freedom Conservancy recently stated FOSS community “should support, not just tolerate, those who outright reject LLM-gen-AI systems” and that “every FOSS contributor deserves self-determination regarding LLM-gen-AI.” Torvalds rejected demands that projects refuse all LLM-generated code.
Productivity research cited: METR 2025 study found AI tools made open-source coders 19% less productive while they felt 20% more productive; February 2026 follow-up update suggested developers are “more sped up from AI tools now—in early 2026.”
Personal use: Torvalds said in January he experimented with “vibe coding” (Google Antigravity) for a Python audio visualizer hobby project.