Post #4090714

2026-07-17 18:27 UTC

@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.

Replies (1)

@jzb@hachyderm.io 2026-07-17 19:44

@bexelbie@toot.io Well, note that I said "kind" and not "nice". I try to be kind, I've never been accused of being nice. ;-) I don't think you misread him at all, nor do I disagree he has the right to "put his foot down" and steer the project as he chooses. But this feels (at the moment) like a misstep to me. And, of course, open source is and has always been as much political as technical for me. The more I look at it, though, the more I just see failed potential. But, really -- my thoughts are much more about how the surrounding conversation has shaped up with people taking sides and villainizing people on the other side rather than Linus' specific actions/comments.

Open ##4090716