Linus Torvalds, the creator of Linux, has publicly thrown his support behind the use of artificial intelligence tools in kernel development. In an email to the Linux kernel mailing list, Torvalds made his position unmistakably clear.
"Linux is not one of those anti-AI projects," Torvalds wrote. He added that he would "absolutely put my foot down as the top-level maintainer" on this issue. Anyone who disagrees, he said, "can do the open-source thing and fork it. Or just walk away."
The Sashiko Debate
The statement comes amid a debate over Sashiko, an AI-powered code review system for the Linux kernel. Sashiko uses prompts tailored to the kernel and its own protocol to automatically review proposed code changes. The tool can import patches directly from mailing lists or local Git repositories and works with various LLM providers. It is a project of the Linux Foundation.
Torvalds' comments were prompted by criticism from developer Roman Gushchin. Gushchin pointed out a "very anti-LLM position in general" that was undermining Sashiko's goal of making maintainers' work easier.
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Technical Merit Over Ideology
Torvalds acknowledged the anti-LLM stance of some people involved but made clear it does not represent the Linux kernel's position. AI is "clearly a useful one," he said, even if that had been less obvious a year ago.
"Anybody who doubts that clearly hasn't actually used it," Torvalds wrote. He acknowledged that AI could also be "painful," such as creating extra work for maintainers or finding "embarrassing bugs." But the answer, he said, is not to "put your head in the sand and sing 'La La La, I can't hear you' at the top of your voice."
AI is not perfect, Torvalds said, but neither is human intelligence. No one is forced to use it. He will, however, "very loudly ignore" people who try to talk others out of using it. The kernel project makes decisions based on technical merits. "Not fear of new tools." A guide for kernel maintainers on working with Sashiko is available on GitHub.