Linux Kernel Scraps AI Disclosure Rule: Torvalds Calls Bans 'Utterly Stupid'

Ever wondered if the code you're running was written with a little help from AI? The Linux kernel team just decided that question doesn't need an official answer. They've dropped a rule that required contributors to disclose when they used AI tools in creating patches.

The rule was only added in January this year. It asked developers to add an 'Assisted-by' tag if they used any advanced coding tool, noting that proper attribution helps track AI's evolving role. But as The Register reports, maintainers have now removed that requirement from the documentation.

Why the change? Linus Torvalds himself responded to concerns from contributor Laurent Pinchart about the tag's removal. In a mailing list post, Torvalds wrote, "I don't understand this whole idiotic concept of 'don't use AI for X.'" He explained that what matters is whether people understand their work, not which tools they use. Good code and bad code can both be made with AI—so forcing disclosure doesn't help maintainers tell the difference.

Torvalds compared rules restricting AI to hypothetical bans on other tools. "Here's a new rule just for you: don't use compilers for any of your kernel submissions," he suggested. "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." He then asked, "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'."

It's a typical Torvalds take—he's generally been positive about AI for coding, even while lamenting the flood of slop reports the kernel team now deals with. The debate over AI in open source is far from over, but for now, Linux contributors won't have to declare their AI use.

What do you think—should open-source projects require AI disclosure, or is Torvalds right that it's pointless? Let us know in the comments.