Drew DeVault critiques Linus Torvalds' recent stance endorsing AI tools in Linux kernel development. Torvalds dismissed ethical objections to LLMs, framing Linux as a purely technical project and telling dissenters to fork it or leave. DeVault argues this is hypocritical — Linux has always been political (e.g., GPLv2 choice) — and that forking Linux is practically impossible by design. The piece raises concerns about AI's environmental costs (energy, water, CO₂), hardware price inflation driven by AI companies, and the legitimizing effect Linux's endorsement gives to AI companies. DeVault calls on Linus and the Linux community to engage honestly with the ethical and political dimensions of adopting AI tools like the Sashiko code review system.
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