Linus Torvalds admits he has a 'love-hate relationship with AI'

Linus Torvalds and Dirk Hohndel astatine Open Source Summit North America 2026

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ZDNET's cardinal takeaways

• Torvalds likes AI, but AI sometimes doesn't similar Torvalds. 
• Linux's laminitis thinks determination volition ever beryllium enactment for programmers.
• AI continues to beryllium a mixed blessing erstwhile it comes to uncovering and fixing information bugs.

Speaking astatine the Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit North America, Linux creator Linus Torvalds said modern AI tools are reshaping however developers enactment connected the kernel, driving up publication measurement and exposing caller societal and information stresses successful the open‑source world. But helium insisted "AI is simply a large tool, but it's a tool" alternatively than a wholesale replacement for programmers. 

Now, if lone the companies laying disconnected tech workers left and close would listen. 

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In the meantime, Torvalds, successful his treatment with Dirk Hohndel, who is Verizon's unfastened root programme bureau head, Linux kernel maintainer, and Torvalds' buddy, added that portion the Linux kernel's long‑standing merchandise process has been unchangeable "for beauteous overmuch precisely 20 years" since the determination to Git, that inclination broke astir six months agone arsenic AI coding tools took off. 

"In the past six months, we've seen a batch much commits," Torvalds noted, estimating that "the past 2 releases, it's been astir 20% much commits than we had successful the erstwhile releases implicit galore years."

Initially, Torvalds misread the spike arsenic excitement astir a large mentation change: "At archetypal I thought, 'hey, radical are excited astir the 7.0 merchandise due to the fact that I changed the large fig each erstwhile successful a while…' and it turns retired I was wrong. The existent alteration that happened successful the past six months was that the AI tools really got bully capable for a batch of people... we're seeing a definite uptick successful conscionable improvement connected beauteous overmuch each fronts." 

Torvalds acknowledged that the caller tools little the obstruction of introduction for contributors, echoing Hohndel's reflection that "the tooling really lowers this archetypal barrier… [and] does a large chunk of the work." But helium emphasized that the existent interaction is societal alternatively than purely technical: "The large symptom points successful Linux, traditionally, and I fishy successful astir projects, person not been truthful overmuch the codification itself, but… erstwhile you are forced to alteration however you work."

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One of the biggest flashpoints has been the Linux kernel information mailing list, which Torvalds said was precocious "overrun by duplicate reports" generated with AI. 

"People deliberation that erstwhile they find a bug with AI, the archetypal absorption sometimes seems to be, let's nonstop it to the information list, due to the fact that this whitethorn person information implications," helium said. The result, connected a deliberately small, confidential list, was that "we were flooded by radical sending bugs, and past you person this database with precise fewer radical connected it… and we spent each our clip conscionable forwarding these reports to… the different developers who knew that country better."

AI and Security

To cope, Torvalds announced caller AI information disclosure guidelines with a blunt rule: "If you find a information bug with AI, you should fundamentally see it to beryllium public, conscionable due to the fact that if you recovered it with AI, 100 different radical besides recovered it with AI." 

At the aforesaid time, helium urged researchers not to people moving exploits: "When it comes to things that truly are information issues, you whitethorn not privation to marque the exploit public… Don't beryllium that feline who past crows astir it publically and says, 'Look, I could bring down this large company.'"

Torvalds linked the disclosure statement to broader shifts successful the information ecosystem. In the past, helium said, the kernel assemblage would softly notify distributions astir a bug and inquire them to upgrade without detailing the vulnerability, and "most of the time, cipher would fig retired what happened." Now, with AI‑accelerated analysis, helium recalled that "last week, we fixed the bug; wrong 3 hours, determination was a blog station astir the implications of that bug fix, due to the fact that information radical emotion getting attention."

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He went retired of his mode to reason that closing the root is not an answer: "I don't think, for example, that the solution is to not bash unfastened source, due to the fact that if you deliberation that AI can't reverse technologist closed source, you're successful for a surprise." In fact, helium warned, "closed root is adjacent worse successful this respect, due to the fact that the AI can't assistance you hole the problems, but the AI definite tin assistance find those problems successful the archetypal place."

Torvalds is right. While Windows vulnerabilities, but for the genuinely horrid ones, nary longer person overmuch attention, AI is besides uncovering plentifulness of information holes successful Windows arsenic well. As Dustin Childs, caput of menace consciousness astatine Trend Micro's Zero Day Initiative, observed recently, "Microsoft's full number came to 1,139 CVEs patched successful 2025," which was the second-highest, down 2020. Childs expects, "as AI bugs go much prevalent, this fig is apt to spell higher successful 2026." 

Meanwhile, backmost astatine Open Source Summit, Hohndel criticized vendors who hype vulnerabilities without responsibly coordinating fixes. He cited 4 caller section privilege escalation bugs successful the kernel, "two of which were disclosed exactly" with branded names, domains, and logos earlier maintainers were contacted. "My effect is always, present is simply a institution I ne'er privation to enactment with, due to the fact that if you bash that to the Linux kernel, you bash this to anyone."

Love, hate, and AI

As annoying arsenic this is, Torvalds admitted to having a love‑hate narration with AI. "I really truly similar it from a method angle. I emotion the tools. I find it precise utile and interesting, but it is decidedly causing symptom points," helium said.

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On the affirmative side, helium framed AI‑discovered bugs arsenic "short-term pain" with long‑term benefits: "When AI finds a bug successful immoderate root code… agelong word is you recovered a bug, we fixed it, that the extremity effect is amended for it." After all, helium continued, "I deliberation uncovering bugs is great, due to the fact that the existent occupation is each the bugs you didn't find."

But helium warned of "social choke points and societal symptom points" arsenic AI pours postulation into already overstretched communities, particularly successful the "10s of 1000s of random projects that radical support that are not the Linux kernel." For tiny teams oregon solo maintainers, helium said, flood‑style AI bug reports tin origin existent burnout, particularly erstwhile "it's a bug report, and erstwhile you inquire for much information, the idiosyncratic has done a drive-by and doesn't adjacent reply your questions anymore."

Torvalds added that attraction is progressively astir radical alternatively than code. "For me, arsenic a top-level maintainer, I don't bash a batch of coding. My occupation is moving with people, and I bash not usage AI to enactment with people. Thank you. And I should suggest you don't bash that either." Torvalds has travel a agelong mode from the days erstwhile he was known for treating mediocre coders with contempt. 

The aboriginal of AI and programming work

Stepping distant from Linux, erstwhile asked what proposal helium would springiness to idiosyncratic astatine the opening of their vocation amid doom‑and‑gloom forecasts that "all codification volition beryllium written by AI," Torvalds pushed backmost hard connected selling claims. 

"My sentiment has ever been that AI is simply a large tool, but it's a tool, and erstwhile I spot radical saying, 'hey, 99% of our codification is written by AI,' I virtually get angry." 

He contrasted those claims with the world that "100% of their codification is written by compilers," and traced his ain way from hand‑entered instrumentality codification to assemblers, past compilers, and present AI helpers. "I grew up penning instrumentality code, and erstwhile I accidental instrumentality code, I don't mean assembly language, I mean the numbers," helium said, recalling that "it took maine a portion to recognize that penning down the numbers and calculating offsets for branches is benignant of stupid, and radical had travel up with this instrumentality called an assembler, and past aboriginal connected I figured retired compilers are bully too. These days, I'm figuring retired AI tools are bully too."

So, Torvalds argued, "I'm personally 100% convinced that AI is changing programming, but it's not changing the fundamentals." Just arsenic compilers accrued productivity "by a origin of 1000," helium estimates that "AI volition summation your productivity by a origin of 10," but insists "AI is great, but AI is not changing programming." 

Instead, helium contended, "a batch of radical volition usage AI to make the codification that the compilers usage to make the codification that the assemblers past usage to make the instrumentality code. This is revolutionary successful the aforesaid consciousness that we've seen revolutions before."

Crucially, Torvalds said, would‑be developers inactive request to recognize what their tools produce. "You bash privation to recognize however it each works successful the end," helium said. "Even erstwhile I usage AI for my favored artifact projects, I volition usage AI to make code, I volition look astatine that code, I volition really inactive look astatine the assembly language… due to the fact that it's what I grew up with." For immoderate serious, long‑lived system, helium warned, "you request to recognize not conscionable your prompts, but you request to recognize the extremity effect too, due to the fact that that's the lone mode you tin support it agelong term."

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Throughout the session, Torvalds returned to a accordant theme: unfastened root and present AI tools are almighty ways to negociate bundle complexity, but they bash not regenerate the request for quality judgment, assemblage norms, and a heavy knowing of the systems being built. 

"Software is precise complicated," helium said, and "the lone truly bully mode to negociate the complexity of a analyzable infrastructure is unfastened source," with AI present layered successful arsenic conscionable 1 much instrumentality successful the programmer's toolbox.