At the Open Source Summit in Mumbai, Linux creator Linus Torvalds made a striking admission: “I’m not a programmer, I’m a development lead.” In an interview with ZDNet’s Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, Torvalds revealed that his daily workflow now relies on just two tools—Git and email—plus Google for lookups. While he still writes small patches, they serve more as guidance than authoritative code.
Torvalds addressed the growing role of artificial intelligence in open-source development, acknowledging that AI boosts programmer productivity but cannot replace human understanding of complex systems. He expressed frustration with claims that “99% of our code is written by AI,” arguing that such statements ignore the fundamental role of compilers and the expertise required to build software intended to last decades.
The Linux founder also highlighted a painful side effect of AI: an explosion of “drive-by” bug reports that lack follow-up, causing maintainer burnout across smaller projects. While AI successfully identifies deep-seated issues in Linux’s 35-year-old codebase, the human cost of reviewing these reports remains significant.
Finally, Torvalds explained the decision to drop “museum” technology support in Linux 7.1, including the Intel 486 processor, framing it as a necessary evolution to keep the kernel modern and maintainable.
https://www.zdnet.com/article/open-source-summit-linus-torvalds