In reply to a developer on one of the Linux kernel mailing lists, Linux creator Linus Torvalds firmly put a foot down to push back against anti-AI comments.
Human written code these days feels equivalent to a unique and soulful artisan made item whereas AI code is like a soulless and defected factory made imitation. I’d much, much, much, rather support artisans over factory made slop and even before AI, artisan work has been well known to be significantly higher quality than factory made stuff. For something as foundational and important as a kernel, I really think AI has no place in it.
Artisans own their tools, that’s what makes them artisans (rather than wage workers). I believe after the bubble pops there will be legitimate uses for the tech, and we’ll be able to run a pretty good iteration in our own hardware, but as it is now I’m uncomfortable with my employer having the power to decide whether I have the tools they want me to use for the job, whereas with code that’s less of a concern.
There’s already pretty decent open weight models that you can run on your own hardware. They won’t be as fast as the models running in a datacenter but they will get the job done while not adding more money to the garbage fire that is ‘The AI Industry’.
I don’t think that the future of AI is as a massive subscription service industry, that is just rampant capitalism on full display (with all of the damage that it causes).
I was thinking more that lots of people don’t have the hardware required to begin with, and it’s really hard to purchase now (especially in poorer countries like mine), hopefully memory prices will come down at some point after the bubble bursts so we can afford shit
It’s really a race between the AI bubble bursting and hardware manufacturers building more production to chase the higher prices.
One of China’s largest chip producers is building several new fabs and their domestic fabs (i.e. ones not made by ASML) are capable of producing DDR5. Once this price shock ends I wouldn’t be surprised to see hardware prices drop to below levels they were pre-2020.
What we’re seeing is the effect of companies having hundreds of billions of dollars in cash on hand and all deciding to dump it into computer hardware at the same time. They can’t burn capital forever and AI isn’t remotely what they’re selling it as so they’re finding a hard time generating any meaningful revenue. All they’re doing is shoveling money to hardware manufacturers, who will use it to build out extra capacity and once the spending frenzy ends we’ll have way more supply than demand.
Of course, given how much money is floating around, that could be 5 years from now.
All I care about is whether it works and is secure. Bonus points for cheaper and faster development. If artisan code gets us there, sure. If AI code gets us there, great. I trust Linus to know what works and what doesn’t.
I suppose the big issue for me is that I’m also an artist and I view code similarly, especially when I combine code with my graphics. I understand though that with a large project you are going to have some amount of people using AI even if you try to filter them out, so I can partially understand his stance. However I really disagree with him when he says it’s a useful tool, given how AI causes brain rot, productivity losses, and environmental destruction.
Human written code these days feels equivalent to a unique and soulful artisan made item whereas AI code is like a soulless and defected factory made imitation. I’d much, much, much, rather support artisans over factory made slop and even before AI, artisan work has been well known to be significantly higher quality than factory made stuff. For something as foundational and important as a kernel, I really think AI has no place in it.
Even artisans use tools.
Artisans own their tools, that’s what makes them artisans (rather than wage workers). I believe after the bubble pops there will be legitimate uses for the tech, and we’ll be able to run a pretty good iteration in our own hardware, but as it is now I’m uncomfortable with my employer having the power to decide whether I have the tools they want me to use for the job, whereas with code that’s less of a concern.
There’s already pretty decent open weight models that you can run on your own hardware. They won’t be as fast as the models running in a datacenter but they will get the job done while not adding more money to the garbage fire that is ‘The AI Industry’.
I don’t think that the future of AI is as a massive subscription service industry, that is just rampant capitalism on full display (with all of the damage that it causes).
I was thinking more that lots of people don’t have the hardware required to begin with, and it’s really hard to purchase now (especially in poorer countries like mine), hopefully memory prices will come down at some point after the bubble bursts so we can afford shit
It’s really a race between the AI bubble bursting and hardware manufacturers building more production to chase the higher prices.
One of China’s largest chip producers is building several new fabs and their domestic fabs (i.e. ones not made by ASML) are capable of producing DDR5. Once this price shock ends I wouldn’t be surprised to see hardware prices drop to below levels they were pre-2020.
What we’re seeing is the effect of companies having hundreds of billions of dollars in cash on hand and all deciding to dump it into computer hardware at the same time. They can’t burn capital forever and AI isn’t remotely what they’re selling it as so they’re finding a hard time generating any meaningful revenue. All they’re doing is shoveling money to hardware manufacturers, who will use it to build out extra capacity and once the spending frenzy ends we’ll have way more supply than demand.
Of course, given how much money is floating around, that could be 5 years from now.
This “argument” really shines the light on just how dumb pro AI people are.
This ‘ad hominem’ really shines the light on just how toxic anti-AI people are.
Did you have to ask ChatGPT how you felt about my comment then to create a response?
Are you naturally an asshole or do you just enjoy fighting strawmen on the Internet?
That’s why you like AI. You can say anything and have it stroke your ego. Real people challenge you and I bet that feels icky.
All I care about is whether it works and is secure. Bonus points for cheaper and faster development. If artisan code gets us there, sure. If AI code gets us there, great. I trust Linus to know what works and what doesn’t.
I suppose the big issue for me is that I’m also an artist and I view code similarly, especially when I combine code with my graphics. I understand though that with a large project you are going to have some amount of people using AI even if you try to filter them out, so I can partially understand his stance. However I really disagree with him when he says it’s a useful tool, given how AI causes brain rot, productivity losses, and environmental destruction.