Post #3887787

2026-07-17 14:55 UTC

I have many thoughts about Linus' recent comments on LLM/AI use for the Linux kernel. Few of them are really interesting or original, at least not currently. My tiny brain needs a while to churn over things. One thought keeps coming to the fore, though: I really wish that this discussion was a lot kinder all the way around and less "everybody who disagrees with me is not only wrong, but malicious and evil and dresses funny too". There are, for reals, some players in the whole AI industry that do deserve some uncharitable things said about them. The folks behind AI scraperbots spring to mind, as do some of the lead characters running the big AI companies... But. The vast majority of people are just trying to make sense of a major shift that, for many people, feels like we've been blindsided and asked to come up with answers to about twenty different life-changing questions. I disagree with plenty of folks about AI/LLMs right now, to varying degrees, but this feels like the kind of politics that you should be able to disagree with someone about and still remain friends. A lot of anger at the situation seems to be getting directed at people, which is probably not great for relationships or problem-solving. I think about how Fred Rogers would approach this discussion. My gut says that he would not love generative AI or its impact on . At the same time, I think he'd be firm about his boundaries on it and try to convince other people of his position without casting them as evil for disagreeing. All this is said with a full realization I've been guilty at times of doing what I dislike about others' communications. So that's a thing for me to work on. I will continue to be uncharitable about *the technology* when it annoys me. I will continue to voice my opinions about the business practices and impacts. But I'm going to try to be as kind as possible *to people* engaging in good faith in these discussions. (No, that doesn't mean I regret saying mean things about, say, Sam Altman. I'm trying to be a better person, not a saint... some folks really do deserve the slings and arrows, particularly the billionaires.) #AI #LLMs #OpenSource

Replies (4)

@murdoc@autistics.life 2026-07-17 15:20

@jzb@hachyderm.io I think you sell the post short, it's got a lot of good things in it that need to be said and heard more. I don't think that all the anger and harshness is a terribly effective way to change other people's minds or behavior, particularly on the Internet. People aren't receptive when they're defensive. I'm also not a big fan of blame. I think it's a clumsy tool that's just easy to reach for because it's part of our animal toolset. I prefer the saying "Don't hate the player, hate the game." I don't mean this as absolving people of personal responsibility, but real solutions will only come from understanding the circumstances which brought about these behaviors (see: Fundamental Attribution Error). And far more grievous than any individual's use or not of AI/LLMs is what is being done at the corporate and government levels regarding it. That is where we should be directing our anger. Trying to get people to stop using AI is like trying to stop weeds from growing by clipping their leaves or petals one by one. What is needed is a massive push towards institutional change. And I know that that is hard, and doesn't produce change right away, and people's anger needs to go somewhere so individuals get caught in the line of fire. But if people just starting even looking in that direction instead of what amounts to just blowing off steam, then change can truly begin to happen. Remember that fighting each other is always what the powers behind these problems want us to do because it distracts us and keeps us ineffective. If anyone wants to discuss strategies for such kinds of change, I have ideas to looks at.

Open ##4090706
@blenderdumbass@mastodon.online 2026-07-17 16:27

@jzb@hachyderm.io Great timing

Open ##4090707
@elmiko@fosstodon.org 2026-07-17 16:59

@jzb@hachyderm.io i agree with your sentiment, especially about treating each other kindly. i found an article about Linus' comments and while i think he is taking, in his own words, a pragmatic approach to this, i also think we should not ignore the SFC's statement about supporting those who reject gen-ai. now, that support doesn't mean they get to dictate all projects tool usage, but we should do more than just tolerate those projects.

Open ##4090710
@bexelbie@toot.io 2026-07-17 18:27

@jzb@hachyderm.io I agree about being nice. I also think Linus made great points as I read them: 1) AI is allowed; 2) You don’t have to use it, but you’re also not allowed to argue other people can’t because you don’t want to; 3) AI is useful and arguments to the contrary are spurious; 4) AI has a lot of other problems that need to be explored and resolved. Maybe I misread him. The big things I think he as a maintainer really “put his foot down” about were that the project will allow AI despite all the other issues people raise not related to usefulness and that the project is not a social issues platform. I realize that doesn’t jive with how some people want their open source to work, but it is his right as maintainer to say it, in our current broken maintainer model.

Open ##4090714