Linus Torvalds tells critics to fork Linux over AI
Linux creator Linus Torvalds is all in on using AI to help build the operating system.
He called AI a useful tool and told critics, "if you can't support using AI in the Linux kernel, you 'can do the open-source thing and fork it.'"
His comments come as the source-supported dispute over AI in open-source contribution workflows.
Maintainers split over AI tools
Not everyone's on board with this shift.
Some maintainers, like Greg Kroah-Hartman, say AI-generated security reports were once "AI slop" and "obviously wrong or low quality," but now they have "real reports" that are "good" and "real."
Others, including groups like the Software Freedom Conservancy, want support, not just tolerate, those who outright reject LLM-gen-AI systems.
Senior maintainer Ted Ts'o admits it's tough to keep everyone happy, but supporters like James Bottomley believe "The contributor doesn't get to approve the tools the maintainer uses to assess and apply patches. If there's AI in there, and the contributor is an AI luddite, then the patch doesn't get applied (i.e. your right to ignore AI stops when it infringes others' right to use it)."