When he came out talking about allowing LLM code contributions everyone told him this would happen.

He has criticized the excessive hype around GenAI/LLMs long before. Torvalds has generally a very pragmatic approach, not a black-and-white one.

Three things more:

The Linux kernel is Torvalds project.

The fact that experienced kernel developers can sometimes use LLMs to their advantage does not mean that the average Joe Codemonkey can do it. These algorithms are often described as a kind of competence multiplicator - but experience from education shows that they are more risky than that and can hinder learning.

And third, we should in this question not put too much weight in the opinion of influential people. Behind the GenAI tech are huge corporations which pour billions of money into it. It is likely that they can pressure and bribe people and that they also pay influencers and bloggers to tout their stuff. Making decisions dependent on single influential persons, however competent and acclaimed they are, is therefore dangerous (see Eric Raymond, Eva Kaili or Gerhard Schröder). Torvalds is not Jesus, and I am pretty sure he didn't apply for that role.

they are still allowing LLM code that has been properly validated by a human

"AI assisted drive-by code submissions" are still the problem

nobody gets the luddite prize

Hey at least he just came out and said it. No overly-sanitized corporate lingo statement, just "eh, I was wrong, so let's figure out how to improve this process".

What's the big deal?

There might be a whole lot more forks out in the world 😖. Ultimately that's what I'd do. Don't want me to contribute? Fine! I'll make my own with Blackjack and hookers!

Is it really hypocritical to find a tool useful yourself, but at the same time complain about people who misuse the same tools?

"Hypocracy" as in "the rule of the hypocrites"? Sounds quite apt.

The Linux kernel is literally Linus' project. If you don't like it, fork it and make your own. Many have.

I'm not exactly a big supporter of AI coding tools, but as someone who works with his hands quite a lot, I can appreciate those who understands and uses these things for what they are - tools. A tool used by the right person can absolutely help a lot. But becoming dependent on a tool to build more advanced stuff, while not understanding what the code does, is where the issues start.

I mean, sure, you can use it as a stepping stone to learn the more advanced stuff, but let's be honest, who is actually doing that? It's certainly not gonna be those "drive by" developers, I'll tell you that much. But do you know who does? People like Linus. Smart people who are bored by the minutia such as PRs and other automations that would have been scripted anyway.

He's not perfect, obviously, he's had some notable issues in the past. I think he's a victim of his own optimism here.

I think he genuinely didn't believe so many people would just vibe code slop and spam maintainers with it.

It's kinda the classic, "I've always used XYZ responsibly and never had a problem. Doesn't everybody else do that?" People do this all the time with credit cards, alcohol, gambling, extreme sports, etc. You think that because you've always done it "the right/smart/responsible way" it must be equally as obvious to everyone.

CIA got to him in the name of NVidia, likely.

¿Remember when he used to bird flip them?

is this the anti AI version of "i'm tired boss"

good luck with your personal kernel

looooooooooool