@tinker

This quote from Linus Torvalds is... well... damning.

Please read the Linux Foundation report

Quote:
We repositioned our operations
and infrastructure to embrace an AI-first future. Many manual
elements of running open source projects and foundations
can and should be automated. Our member companies have
already taken these steps, using AI to accelerate code refactoring,
manage networks, triage security alerts, and generate marketing
content.

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/hubfs/Publications/2025%20Linux%20Foundation%20Annual%20Report_122225a_lr.pdf?hsLang=en

@tinker

The social angle of that project has been, and will remain, the major motivating part of many supporters and contributors.

Without them, #Linux would have stayed precisely what Torvalds announced it as, »just a hobby, won't be big and professional, like gnu«.

There is no point, however, in repeating the well known, endless list of bullet points describing the objectively harmful impacts of " #AI" on our world, and on humanity – to a person firmly determined to consider this planet burner a "tool".

It's much more useful to accept that Torvalds is no longer in his prime, and his ethical negligence will worsen over time, resulting in more and more tech-bro-style statements.

Don't turn humans into living gods.

@tinker oh boy, time to fork the linux project eh?

Gosh, what do we have left

@tinker Yeah, comparing social and political consciousness to "religious reasons" and reducing objections to #AI to "fear of new tools" makes for a truly terrible take, and an almost painful read. 😬

A mix of naivety, arrogance, and ignorance that reads more like the opinion of a 13yo full of themself rather than of a grown up man.

I mean, there is probably room for arguing in favour of AI usage in #Linux and #OpenSource, but this is just cringe.

What a shame.

@tinker For decades Torvals has been like this, a nihilistic nerd that cares about nothing but the tech. He doesn't care about the code of conduct, minority issues, gender issues, democracy, open source, mental health issues, you name it, he cares about tech. The man is an asshole. At one point his own daughter called him out, and he listened for a few weeks only to go right back to the same behavior. People put him on a pedestal because he made the linux kernel. People are stupid.

@tinker Linux was taken over by tech corporations eons ago. Remember when it wouldn't update to GPL3 because that would've broken DRM? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

@tinker Linux has been taken over by tech corporations eons ago. Remember when it wouldn't update to GPL3 because that would've broken DRM? Pepperidge Farm remembers.

@tinker I would need to know the question, before I could have a proper opinion on the reply. But I don't see his position as surprising - how many LLMs run on Linux? Almost all of them? The kernel project always needed to walk a fine line between the hobbyists needs and the requirements of Big Tech.

Should it be about AI in general, Torvalds couldn't turn back time, even if he wanted to. Its wrong to expect that from him.

@tinker If I were to put on my philosophy hat for a second, doesn't that prove him right? You may disagree with Linus on this point, but the stuff's good.
He may not see it as a fight for freedom, only as a technological playground to make the kernel better. You may not agree with him, and that's okay. What would be wrong in my eyes is not using the kernel because someone disagrees.

I may not agree with the politics of a ton of people who provided software for my laptop, but that stuff is good, so I use it. If I only used software I agreed with, I'd be honestly fucked 😂

@tinker tech is politics same way cooking is politics. Your Linux fancy correlates to your views, but thats not because Linux is political as much as you view it.

@tinker I mean if they ensure quality, it should be ok.
AI code can be good, you have check it, but it can be.
In the end he'll see when Linux is flooded by AI PRs. That's in my opinion the real problem, having these slop tsunamis, which is definitely social.
Generally, you have to use it right. You have to know what you're doing. And no, I'm not completely pro AI, I don't use it on a regular basis, because I want to learn how to code myself, but lots of people let AI code whole projects or let it find bugs that don't exist and that's problematic.

@tinker he is very open about the options though:
„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.“
Which, in the end, is fine. I think LLMs are a Pandora‘s Box moment. We are not happy about it, but the genie is out of the bottle.

@tinker 😡

@tinker this has always been a difference between Open Source and Free Software.