MRK WP

The creator of Linux just publicly called out the AI hype. Word for word. Linus Torvalds took the stage at Open Source Summit 2026 and said this: "When I see people saying 99% of our code is written by AI, I literally get angry. Because those same people — I can pretty much guarantee — 100% of their code is written by compilers. But they never say that." He is not anti AI. The Linux kernel saw a 20% jump in submissions this release because of AI tools. He uses it. He gets it. His point is something most people are too afraid to say. AI is a productivity tool exactly like compilers were. Compilers boosted programming by 1000x. AI adds another 10x on top. Enormous. But nobody says "the compiler wrote my code." So why are we saying AI wrote it? He also flagged something nobody is talking about. AI is flooding small open source projects with drive-by bug reports. Someone runs a prompt, files a report and disappears when asked for a patch. Maintainers with one or two people are drowning trying to keep up. "Sometimes AI reports a bug and when you ask for more information the person has done that drive-by and does not even answer your question. That is the real burnout issue." And his final warning was the sharpest of all. "People who do not understand the complexity of systems will prompt systems and write processes that will fail." The AI hype crowd is very loud right now. Linus has been building real systems for 35 years. When he talks, engineers listen. Full interview here: thenewstack.io/torvalds-ai-p…