## Linux Developers Are Using AI, But With caution

• Linux kernel developers are already using AI.
• AI helps Linux programmers, but they are careful how they use it.
• Linux kernel maintainers need to decide the main issues of the AI policy.

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Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has proposed up to 30% of the company’s code has now written AI. While Microsoft can love AI code writing tools, open source and Linux developers are much more restrained.

As far as Daniel Stenberg, the main maintenance of the popular open source curl Data Transfer Program is a concern, AI-WRITTEN BUG STORIES have active attacks on the projectThere is a Linux core community between these two extremes.

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Speaks in 2025 Open Source Summit, North America, Sasha Levin, Linux Kernel Hacker and Nvidia’s outstanding engineer, said AI dose not intend to replace programmersIn the area

instead, he said:

Large language models (LLM) are just another fictional compiler. In the 1950s and 60s, everyone worked in assembly, and then C appeared, and we did not stop the coding for assembly as C was suddenly perfect. C is not perfect, guess we stopped doing as C is good enough and we are more productive coding C. And for me, LLM is very similar to a compromise. They are not perfect yet, guess at some point they will be good enough to make us more productive.

This does not mean that AI is no longer useful. Levin mentioned

AI is Now Helping to secure the Linux Kernel

The Linux kernel, the heart of the world’s most popular operating system, is getting a security boost from artificial intelligence. Developers are increasingly turning to AI to identify and address vulnerabilities, streamline code review, and manage the complexities of this massive codebase.

Greg Kroah-Hartman, a leading Linux kernel developer, explained to ZDNET that AI excels at tasks humans often miss. “AI can be patient enough to actually move on,” he said, referring to its ability to meticulously scan code for potential issues. He also noted that developers sometimes overlook crucial aspects like the “patch path” or fail to use complete scanning methods.

A key application of AI is in automatically detecting code changes that address Linux Common Vulnerability and Exposure (CVE) Safety holes. Because even minor mistakes in the Linux kernel can create security vulnerabilities, tracking these issues is a meaningful undertaking. Previously,kernel maintainers relied on cumbersome Bash scripts. Now, AI, using a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) approach, accesses the kernel’s Git repository and documentation, learns from patch history, and reduces the likelihood of false positives (hallucinations).

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AI isn’t limited to vulnerability detection. Shuah Khan, a colleague at the Linux Foundation, shared that AI-based tools are now used to review messages, code changes, and historical data to provide helpful suggestions to developers.

despite the benefits, Linux kernel developers are proceeding with caution. Dirk Hohndel,CEO of Verizon,told ZDNET:

I believe that many of these tools can be very useful for complementing what the human developer can do. They can simplify their daily tasks. At the time of writing they can make you faster. They can definitely help document the code. Wager, especially with a language like C and with an extremely refined code base, such as the Linux core, I believe we are still on the very edge, which is good for these tools.