Linux Creator Plants Foot on AI Open Source Contribution Issue

https://virtualizationreview.com/articles/2026/07/16/linus-torvalds-says-linux-kernel-is-not-an-anti-ai-project.aspx

Publish Date: 2026-07-16 14:10:00

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Linux creator and lead maintainer Linus Torvalds has drawn a firm line in the open source debate over artificial intelligence, declaring that the Linux kernel will not become an anti-AI project and telling developers who cannot accept that position that they are free to fork the project or leave.

The unusually direct intervention comes amid continuing resistance to AI-assisted development in open source communities. Critics have raised concerns about low-quality automated submissions, increased review burdens, uncertain code provenance and whether developers can legally certify contributions produced with tools trained on large collections of existing source code.

Red Hat has summarized that dispute, noting that some open source developers regard generative AI systems as “plagiarism machines” or “copyright laundering” mechanisms. Those concerns include the possibility that generated output could reproduce proprietary or license-incompatible code, along with a broader objection that AI companies have trained models on open source software without preserving the obligations normally attached to that software.

Red Hat also noted that concerns surrounding the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) have led some projects to prohibit AI-assisted contributions altogether. The DCO requires contributors to certify that they have the right to submit their work under the project’s license.

[Click on image for larger view.] Developer Certificate of Origin (source: Linux Foundation).

Torvalds, however, made clear that such general opposition will not determine policy for the Linux kernel.

Responding to a comment that a position being discussed on the kernel mailing list appeared broadly anti-large language model (LLM), Torvalds wrote: “Yes. And no,…

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