[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"branding":3,"analytics":7,"article-linux-kernel-drops-its-ai-disclosure-tag-citing-little-value":10,"sections":41},{"siteName":4,"siteTagline":5,"publisherName":4,"contactEmail":6},"The Revision","Tech news, decoded.","editor@therevision.news",{"gaMeasurementId":8,"adsenseClientId":9},"G-ZW2MV82GYR","ca-pub-8533917693782264",{"article":11},{"id":12,"slug":13,"title":14,"dek":15,"body_md":16,"tags_json":17,"published_at":18,"created_at":19,"updated_at":20,"status":21,"review_note":22,"review_notes":23,"image_url":22,"persona_id":22,"persona_name":22,"section":30,"tags":31,"sources":36,"feedback":40,"feedback_at":22,"cost_usd":40,"total_tokens":40},11740,"linux-kernel-drops-its-ai-disclosure-tag-citing-little-value","Linux Kernel Drops Its AI Disclosure Tag, Citing Little Value","Maintainers removed the Assisted-by requirement added in January, with Torvalds arguing a contributor's understanding matters more than the tools used.","The Linux kernel no longer asks contributors to say when AI helped write their code.\n\nAs first reported by The Register, maintainers removed the requirement from the project's documentation. It was added in January 2026 and told contributors that if they used any sort of advanced coding tool on a patch, they had to acknowledge it with an Assisted-by tag. The old text said that attribution helps track the evolving role of AI in development.\n\nContributor Laurent Pinchart raised concerns about the removal. Linus Torvalds, the kernel's creator and lead maintainer, answered on the kernel mailing list. As best we can read his post, his view is that the tag tells maintainers little about the quality of the code it is attached to. He wrote that he does not understand \"this whole idiotic concept of 'don't use AI for X,'\" and that he expects people to do their best and understand what they are doing, which has \"very little to do with what tools they use.\"\n\nHe then offered a comparison: a rule that bars compilers unless contributors can prove they understand the machine by writing assembler. \"Do you not see how UTTERLY STUPID those kinds of rules would be?\" he asked.\n\nThat analogy argues against a ban, and the removed rule was not a ban. It was a label. So Torvalds' case rests on a narrower point: a self-reported tag does not help reviewers separate careful patches from sloppy ones. That is a fair argument. A careless patch with no tag costs reviewers the same time as one with it. What the kernel gives up is a record of provenance, which the January rule was meant to build.\n\nThe position fits his record. Torvalds has generally been positive about AI in coding, while lamenting the number of low-quality AI-generated reports the kernel team now wades through. Those reports are a volume problem, and a tag was never going to solve one. The project is left with a single standard, that contributors understand what they submit, and the wider open-source world is still arguing over whether that is enough.","[\"linux\",\"ai-coding\",\"open-source\",\"linus-torvalds\"]","2026-10-16T15:52:39.000Z","2026-10-18T05:48:56.345Z","2026-10-18T05:48:56.606Z","published",null,[24],{"id":25,"reviewer":26,"round":27,"reason":28,"status":29},"editor-r1","editor",1,"Fix the misattributed quote: \"doesn't really communicate anything of value\" is PCGamer's paraphrase of Torvalds' view, not his words, so remove the quote marks or present it as a paraphrase, and credit The Register's original reporting.","resolved","dev-tools",[32,33,34,35],"linux","ai-coding","open-source","linus-torvalds",[37],{"name":38,"url":39},"PCGamer","https:\u002F\u002Fwww.pcgamer.com\u002Fsoftware\u002Flinux\u002Flinux-kernel-drops-ai-contribution-disclosure-rule-as-linus-torvalds-says-banning-the-tech-would-be-utterly-stupid\u002F",0,{"sections":42},[43,48,53,58,63,68,73,78,83,88,91,96,101,106],{"name":44,"slug":45,"count":46,"latest_published_at":47},"AI","ai",7039,"2026-10-17T19:58:31.000Z",{"name":49,"slug":50,"count":51,"latest_published_at":52},"Security","security",1001,"2026-10-17T22:20:00.000Z",{"name":54,"slug":55,"count":56,"latest_published_at":57},"Policy","policy",538,"2026-10-17T19:38:12.000Z",{"name":59,"slug":60,"count":61,"latest_published_at":62},"Deals","deals",521,"2026-10-17T07:00:00.000Z",{"name":64,"slug":65,"count":66,"latest_published_at":67},"Hardware","hardware",261,"2026-10-17T19:55:36.000Z",{"name":69,"slug":70,"count":71,"latest_published_at":72},"Consumer Tech","consumer-tech",235,"2026-10-16T23:36:26.000Z",{"name":74,"slug":75,"count":76,"latest_published_at":77},"Science","science",202,"2026-10-16T11:00:53.000Z",{"name":79,"slug":80,"count":81,"latest_published_at":82},"Startups","startups",133,"2026-10-14T19:51:34.000Z",{"name":84,"slug":85,"count":86,"latest_published_at":87},"Software","software",128,"2026-10-14T22:23:48.000Z",{"name":89,"slug":30,"count":90,"latest_published_at":18},"Dev Tools",117,{"name":92,"slug":93,"count":94,"latest_published_at":95},"General","general",81,"2026-10-16T16:06:38.000Z",{"name":97,"slug":98,"count":99,"latest_published_at":100},"Gaming","gaming",77,"2026-10-17T16:59:39.000Z",{"name":102,"slug":103,"count":104,"latest_published_at":105},"Reviews","reviews",37,"2026-10-14T10:00:00.000Z",{"name":107,"slug":108,"count":109,"latest_published_at":110},"How-To","how-to",8,"2026-10-05T09:00:00.000Z"]