Why Linux creator Linus Torvalds gets angry hearing “99% of code is AI”
Why Linux creator Linus Torvalds gets angry hearing “99% of code is AI”
https://thenewstack.io/torvalds-ai-programming-productivity/
Publish Date: 2026-05-29 10:36:00
Source Domain: thenewstack.io
During his keynote at the recent Open Source Summit North America, Linux and Git creator Linus Torvalds did not mince words about those who contend AI will remove the need for human programmers.
Instead of AI “replacing” programming, Torvalds told the audience gathered in Minneapolis that AI boosts productivity in the same way that past technological revolutions did.
Programmers will ultimately use AI to generate the source code, which compilers then turn into machine code. However, to build serious projects intended to last decades, developers must deeply understand the generated code and the system architecture, not just the prompts, he clarified.
“AI is a great new tool, but it’s a tool, and when I see people saying, ‘Hey, 99% of our code is written by AI,’ I literally get angry, because those same people — I can pretty much guarantee — that 100% of their code is written by compilers. But they never say that.”
“When I see people saying, ‘Hey, 99% of our code is written by AI, I literally get angry”
From the perspective of a long-time open-source maintainer — the first maintainer of Linux, as its creator — Torvalds views AI as a significant, high-productivity tool, similar to the historical shift from machine code to assemblers and compilers.
Torvalds dismissed the idea that AI might one day “replace” programming, arguing instead that it boosts productivity, much like past revolutions in software development. Torvalds emphasized that true software engineering requires, in the immediate future, human understanding of the underlying systems, not just the ability to write AI prompts.
“I’m 100% convinced that AI is changing programming, but it’s not changing the fun.”
Programmers will ultimately use AI to generate the source code, which compilers then turn into machine code. “I’m 100% convinced that AI is changing programming, but it’s not changing the fun,” Torvalds…
