--- title: "Linus Torvalds Admits Inevitability: AI Has Made Giant Linux Kernel Updates the New Normal" description: "🚀 Linus Torvalds admits: AI has changed the rules of the game in Linux. Kernel updates have become \"giant\" due to automation. The creator of Linux urged critics to accept reality or leave. Linux 7.2 release is expected next week." date: 2026-08-11T23:08:40.000Z lang: en url: https://xab.info/en/posts/linus-torvalds-admits-ai-linux-kernel-updates-2026 tags: [linux, linus-torvalds, artificial-intelligence, kernel-development, open-source] publisher: "XAB.info" --- # Linus Torvalds Admits Inevitability: AI Has Made Giant Linux Kernel Updates the New Normal ![Glasses in front of a screen with Linux kernel code: symbol of the AI era in software development, as stated by Linus Torvalds](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/12/linus-torvalds-linux-ai-updates-2026/linus-torvalds-linux-ai-updates-2026-1.webp) ## 🎯 Key Points - Linus Torvalds admits that AI has made huge Linux kernel updates the new norm. - The latest kernel release candidate became the largest in terms of commit count in recent years. - Torvalds urged critics of AI use in code to leave the project if they disagree with the changes. - The final version of Linux 7.2 is expected in the coming weekend. In the world of open-source development, where code quality has historically been prioritized over speed, a fundamental transformation has occurred. Linus Torvalds, the creator and main maintainer of the Linux kernel, has officially acknowledged that artificial intelligence has changed the very structure of the development process. In his weekly kernel status reports published in early August 2026, Torvalds stated that "huge" updates have become the new norm, and despite personal reservations, he is prepared to accept this as a reality. ### The Era of "Giant" Releases The situation with the current Linux kernel 6.x development cycle and the transition to version 7.2 clearly demonstrates the scale of these changes. Torvalds explicitly noted that the latest release candidate became the "largest in recent years" in terms of the number of commits. Even by the standards of the new reality shaped by AI, this volume appears anomalous. The developer expressed his attitude towards the situation with restraint: "I can't say I'm thrilled with the size of all this. But what is, is: new norms with a large number of fixes, many of which appeared thanks to checks by various AI tools". Artificial intelligence, which just a few years ago was viewed more as an auxiliary tool, is now generating and verifying code in volumes inaccessible to human teams. This has led to an exponential expansion of the changelog, filled with thousands of minor edits that might previously have been filtered out or merged. ### From Criticism to Acceptance: The Creator of Linux's Stance Linus Torvalds' position has evolved from skepticism to hard pragmatism. Previously, he criticized the idea that quality documentation could compensate for low-quality code generated by AI. He also complained that the kernel security mailing list had become practically unmanageable due to a flood of duplicate vulnerability reports created by neural networks. However, in mid-2026, his tone changed. Torvalds stated that the Linux project would not resist AI and advised critics who do not accept these changes to simply leave the project ("Fork it or move on"). This signaled that the Linux kernel has finally integrated AI into its development cycle, despite the risks of reduced code readability and increased maintenance complexity. ### State of Linux Kernel 7.2 Currently, in August 2026, the community is on the final stretch before the release of the stable version of Linux 7.2. The seventh release candidate (RC7) causes Torvalds some concern regarding its size, but he assures that "there is nothing particularly scary as such — there is just a lot of everything here". Among the most significant changes in the current cycle are fixes for the s390/zcrypt architecture, the return of btrfs file system support, and a series of improvements to the ipset network filter. However, the bulk of the updates are "avalanches" of minor fixes scattered across drivers, file systems, and architectural code. The final version of the kernel is expected to be released next weekend, cementing this new era of development. ### Contradictory Data There is disagreement within the developer community regarding the long-term consequences of this approach. On one hand, proponents of AI use note that automation tools allow bugs to be found and fixed faster than was possible with purely manual labor. On the other hand, critics, whose concerns were previously shared by Torvalds himself, argue that the accumulation of thousands of minor, code-generated fixes creates "technical debt" and complicates future security audits. So far, statistics show an increase in stability, but the question of how easy it will be to maintain such code in 5-10 years remains open. ## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification - [Linus Torvalds says AI has made 'huge' Linux kernel updates the new normal](https://www.theregister.com/os-platforms/2026/08/10/linus-torvalds-says-ai-has-made-huge-linux-kernel-updates-the-new-normal/5285268) - Основной источник цитат Торвальдса о новых нормах и размерах обновлений. - [Torvalds Tells Linux Kernel Critics: AI Isn't Going Anywhere, Fork It or Move On](https://adtmag.com/articles/2026/07/28/torvalds-tells-linux-kernel-critics-ai-is-not-going-anywhere.aspx) - Подтверждено по источнику adtmag.com - [Linus Torvalds to critics of AI coding in Linux: “Fork it. Or just walk away.”](https://arstechnica.com/ai/2026/07/linus-torvalds-to-critics-of-ai-coding-in-linux-fork-it-or-just-walk-away/) - Подтверждено по источнику arstechnica.com - [Linux Kernel 7.2 RC7 Released: Stable Version Scheduled for Next Weekend](https://ostechnix.com/linux-kernel-7-2-rc7-released/) - Подтверждение статуса релиза Linux 7.2 RC7 и сроков выхода финальной версии. ## ❓ FAQ ### Q: Why have Linux updates become so large? **A:** Linus Torvalds attributes this to the mass adoption of artificial intelligence tools that generate and verify code in huge volumes. ### Q: What is Linus Torvalds' position on AI in code? **A:** Torvalds has acknowledged the inevitability of AI use and urged critics who do not accept this approach to leave the project. ### Q: When will the stable version of Linux 7.2 be released? **A:** The final version is expected to be released on the weekend following the publication of the seventh release candidate (August 2026).