Linus Torvalds admits he has a 'love-hate relationship with AI'

Linus Torvalds and Dirk Hohndel at Open Source Summit North America 2026 sjvn/ZDNET

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Torvalds likes AI, but AI sometimes doesn't like Torvalds.

Linux's founder thinks there will always be work for programmers.

AI continues to be a mixed blessing when it comes to finding and fixing security bugs.

Speaking at the Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit North America, Linux creator Linus Torvalds said modern AI tools are reshaping how developers work on the kernel, driving up contribution volume and exposing new social and security stresses in the open‑source world. But he insisted "AI is a great tool, but it's a tool" rather than a wholesale replacement for programmers.

Now, if only the companies laying off tech workers left and right would listen.

Also: Microsoft surprises with its first server Linux distribution: Azure Linux 4.0

Torvalds spoke with Verizon's Open Source Program Office Head Dirk Hohndel, who is also a Linux kernel maintainer and a friend of Torvalds'. Torvalds added that while the Linux kernel's long‑standing release process has been stable "for pretty much exactly 20 years" since the move to Git, that trend broke about six months ago as AI coding tools took off.

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