Linus Torvalds says Linux won’t ban AI tools

Linus Torvalds says the Linux kernel project is not anti-AI, and developers who object to that stance are free to fork the project and leave.

In a kernel mailing list message cited by TechRadar, Torvalds said developers will not be discouraged from using AI tools to help with coding, but their use also will not be mandatory. He framed the issue as a practical one rather than an ideological fight.

“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.”

Torvalds said he does not strongly advocate for or against AI use. Instead, he described it as a tool with some proven use cases, even as questions remain around its economics, environmental impact, and long-term consequences.

He also acknowledged the downside for maintainers. According to the report, AI-assisted submissions can increase workloads, add noise, duplicate existing work, and create more burden for human reviewers.

That, Torvalds argued, is the real problem to solve.

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“The solution is to make sure those LLM tools _help_ maintainers instead of just causing them pain.”

He also pushed back on holding AI to a perfect standard, saying “natural intelligence” can be just as error-prone as artificial intelligence. For Torvalds, the kernel project is not a political vehicle for debating AI’s legitimacy. He said it remains focused on the technology itself, and that contributors are welcome regardless of whether they use AI assistance.

“The kernel project has been and will continue to be about the technology.”