Document: WR-028                                                 P. Webb
                                                              2026.11.02

                              Linus on AI

Body


   I don’t understand this whole idiotic concept of "don’t use AI
   for X".
   
   Here’s a new rule just for you: don’t use compilers for any of your
   kernel submissions.
   
   Because if you can’t show that you really understand what the
   machine is actually doing by writing your code in assembler, then I
   don’t want to see your code contribution. You clearly aren’t
   competent if you can’t write it that way.
   
   And btw, you had better not use an editor to write that commit
   message either.
   
   Because I need you to show me that you can actually write a good
   commit message without using tools that make it easy to backspace
   and hide the mistakes you made while typing.
   
   Ok?
   
   Because otherwise those tool-assisted commits of yours clearly
   aren’t showing that you know what you are doing.
   
   Do you not see how UTTERLY STUPID those kinds of rules would be?
   
   So no. We’re not going to make stupid rules that say "you can’t use
   tools for X".
   
   The kind of expectations I have is that people do their best and
   I expect people to understand what they are doing.
   
   But that understanding has very little to do with what tools
   they use.
   
   And quite honestly, in my experience, the people I respect and call
   intelligent are not the ones that shy away from using new and
   interesting tools.



   Well said.

   via[1]