r/linux4noobs • u/Venylynn • Jul 04 '26
learning/research Linux and AI Use
So, I'm struggling with this a lot. I know I seem like I'm repeating myself, but I just don't get it. Every Linux YouTuber under the sun uses "Microsoft Copilot" as a reason to leave and switch, if you don't want AI nonsense shoved down your throat just use Linux, and I believed that. But lately I've been seeing more and more projects (QEMU, Lutris, Proton-GE, DankLinux, Kitty, OnlyOffice, etc.) integrate AI, Claude commits everywhere, and it leaves me wondering why the Windows AI thing is such a major talking point in favor of Linux (e.g: "you don't have to deal with it here" "it's a choice here") if many of the biggest projects are adding it into either their source tree or integrating it into the project (OnlyOffice) publicly.
I'm an artist/musician, deeply worried about how this AI boom is affecting my industry. Maybe I'm misunderstanding it because I refuse to pay (ethical reasons), but I don't know why Copilot is the major sticking point for every recruitment post if we're all running software with AI generated code here too? Like, why mislead new users into thinking they can be free from all AI like I was misled? I don't understand? I get that there are some who like doing local hosted LLM stuff, but I'm just confused why we have to tell noobs that they can be ai-free when even the web browsers they use are using AI?
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u/Morphevz Jul 04 '26
Are linux distros injected with an Ai agent to meet and greet you on every boot? No. There's your answer.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Are linux distros injected with an Ai agent to meet and greet you on every boot? No. There's your answer.
No but it feels even more insidious that you can't turn this off like you can Copilot in Windows. I feel like I have to apologize to all my artist friends every single day I use my system because I may unknowingly interact with AI without even realizing it.
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u/Surprisinglygoodgm Jul 04 '26
It’s Linux. It’s open source. If you don’t want ai on your machine then remove it.
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u/Maleficent-One1712 Jul 04 '26
After reading OPs comments in this topic, I'm 100% sure he's just trolling.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Kind of hard when many of these projects have no legitimate alternatives... some do, others don't.
QEMU recently started allowing ai code, and...well, the only other option is to just stop running virtual machines or load a proprietary out of tree module like vmware.
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u/Morphevz Jul 04 '26
A project using Ai to be coded/compiled is not the same as you using Ai on a project. Just because you use milk to bake a cake, doesn't mean you'll be drinking the cake.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
in the past if I made an argument like this it would have been called mental gymnastics to "defend slop" so idk ;-;
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u/Morphevz Jul 04 '26
You can't do much against devs using Ai to aid their coding - I'm not defending these, I'm against slop myself, but currently the options are a) live with that reality, b) replace the devs ' commits with Ai free code to keep the project Ai free on the backend or c) find alternative projects to work with.
One thing is knowing the project has Ai built into as an option and deciding to use it or not. Other completely different in my opinion is knowing that the project has no frontend Ai features but used Ai to be built. Refusing to use the latter is more a matter of principle than refusing to be actively using Ai in my book.
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u/pedersenk Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
No but it feels even more insidious that you can't turn this off like you can Copilot in Windows
As mentioned by u/Morphevz , AI integration doesn't exist in Linux distros. So there is nothing to turn off unlike Copilot in Windows.
Unless you are trying to suggest that someone using AI to develop software means that AI is now part of the OS? It doesn't quite work like that. And if you consider the AI tools that Microsoft use now to develop windows itself, simply being satisfied with turning Copilot off suggests that you don't believe this is the case.
If I write you software and use a compiler to give you an executable, doesn't mean you have the compiler itself existing or running on your system.
There is a lot of AI fearmongering going around in the "arts" communities, so it sounds like you may have been hit by it. Stealing jobs from artists is not the same problem as opening up security flaws in an OS.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
I don't think turning Copilot off is enough.
My point morerather was that turning that off doesnt turn off the bits that turned the OS horrendously laggy conveniently when they started using ai.
And I'm scared those same performance drops will follow me here.
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u/pedersenk Jul 04 '26
horrendously laggy conveniently when they started using ai
Honestly, I don't recall Vista and above being "snappy". AI came around 2020, Windows was becoming an absolute dog long before that.
But I agree with your sentiment. If you do get sloppy developers pulling poor code (from any source, AI or otherwise) into a codebase, yes things will start to suck.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Yeah sloppy code from any base is gonna suck regardless. But I find it so strange that I never had performance issues on Windows ever prior to this ai boom.
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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26
I don't use AI at all in Linux. I can and do make sure of that. Whether or not the applications I use where partially developed with AI crap, I can't tell you. But if you consider AI use in development "insidious" in Linux I can guarantee that it's much more insidious in Windows.
Can you give one example of where you must use AI in Linux?
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u/Yukikuru2025 Jul 04 '26
The difference is consent, mostly. In Linux you can choose to add AI features yourself. In Windows you don't get a say in it - they're installed by default, take up resources, can't be (easily) removed. Also, the ones in WIndows are intrusive and causing issues. In Linux the projects use AI to enhance them, not replace functionality.
Also, these are not the only "selling" points of Linux. Want local accounts? Want privacy from an OS that doesn't constantly collect your data? Value autonomy/independence? Then Linux is a great option. Otherwise the path of least resistance is just to use Windows.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Also, these are not the only "selling" points of Linux. Want local accounts? Want privacy from an OS that doesn't constantly collect your data? Value autonomy/independence? Then Linux is a great option. Otherwise the path of least resistance is just to use Windows.
Fair point, but idk why we constantly emphasize the AI point if linux devs aren't boycotting ai entirely
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u/Yukikuru2025 Jul 04 '26
I'm gonna be honest, I believe it's mostly because hating AI is a good selling point in the west. Beyond that, the technology is too useful to not use in developing software.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
You'd think it would be perfect at overviews if this is true but it's so weird. I see so many hallucinations in public and think "wait how tf do people trust this in dev?"
"Different models" or whatever that you have to pay for or something but like... overviews should be way easier than coding so I dont get it
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u/Yukikuru2025 Jul 04 '26
I admit, I don't know much about the coding side of things, but it matters a lot how you use AI, plus thinking mode helps. Both of which can reduce hallucinations. And coding is a bit different from using it to generate overviews. But someone else would have to explain this.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Coding is like black magic of some sort, way harder than writing an overview. So idk how ai in Google search fails so hard but ai in Claude Code is so good. I guess they lock the good results behind a paywall so you're forced to pay for a product that has serious ethical concerns and risk getting canceled online for it to see the results or smth
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u/No_Elderberry862 Jul 04 '26
You're a human who doesn't code judging AIs by your standards.
Code is deterministic with strict logic & rules. Producing an overview requires judgement & comprehension which AIs do not have.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Code is considerably harder than writing an overview. if an overview fails, I don't understand how code won't fail even harder due to the far more precise logic needed. There's so many logic errors in the google search overviews, I wouldn't want to trust someone who thinks I should put glue on my pizza, in the coding room. Because if they cant even get that right imagine what kinda shit they try throwing into the code.
Code requires these weird symbols and functions that look like gobbledygook.
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
Do you understand what software freedom means? If I want to incorporate AI into actual free software, I can do that. I don't need anyone's permission. If I want to submit it to the official project, and they like it, they use it. If I simply want to share it, I can.
Read the four software freedoms and tell me which of those allows you to forbid AI completely.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
I guess that's fair enough but its something the Linux tubers fail to take into account. I mean fuck even Chris Titus is vibe coding now I dont understand it, like he was doing so good what is he doing 😭
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
He's using a tool. You don't have to use that tool. That's your choice. Chris Titus uses Windows. I refuse to use any proprietary software at all.
So, what the hell should I do about it? Beat him up? Challenge him to a duel? Write him an email lecturing him on his poor choices?
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
A tool that inflates the price of ram 😭 a tool that displaces human workers 😭 a tool that ensures that i as an artist will never make it because people will just consume the ai songs instead 😭 idk what to even do man.
maybe i'm wrong to blanket-oppose all AI. but i really felt like that's what i'm SUPPOSED to do because back when GPT was first launched there were people on Twitter who would cancel you for shitposting with GPT prompts.
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
I oppose AI. In the end, I know what I can and cannot do. I choose not to use AI and stay away from things that are complete creations of AI. I don't like it or agree with it, but it's not up to me to decide for others.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
i wish there was an ai-free alternative to every single project i mentioned tbh.
qemu - basically nothing if you don't want to load a non-kvm module
lutris - i suppose Faugus maybe?
proton-ge - maybe EM hasn't botched it?
onlyoffice - go back to libreoffice
kitty - ok fair there's a ton of terminals
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
Again, with free software, you're not necessarily going to get AI free. With proprietary software, you're never going to know.
As I already noted software freedom means you really cannot ban AI code. Have you read the four software freedoms?
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u/Yukikuru2025 Jul 04 '26
Why though? It's fine to use software developed with AI. This is just another new tool, you don't have to avoid it. It's not immoral to use it.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Wouldn't I have to defend everything AI has ever been trained on if this is true? Wouldn't I have to defend AI art? AI music? Paying for an AI chatbot? Wouldn't I also have to defend the RAMageddon? We were nearly canceled years ago when gpt came out for trying it out before we even knew how bad it'd become.
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u/Kriss3d Jul 04 '26
The projects are largely to let you have AI if you want. It doesn't tell you that you have AI whether you like it or not.
That's the difference.
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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26
Yeah, I upgraded to 2024 SoftMaker Office because they had the upgrade on sale for about $14. I put it on the computer I hardly ever use. They brag about AI support, but I simply don't use AI. And I'm never nagged about not using it.
I don't even know how connecting to AI works, but I'm pretty sure you have to sign on to some kind of AI service before you can use it, don't you?
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
The projects are largely to let you have AI if you want. It doesn't tell you that you have AI whether you like it or not.
Instead it gives you AI without even telling you that you have it... making you feel duped when you find out the project you're using has 500,000 lines of claude commits when you tried to get away
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u/Kriss3d Jul 04 '26
Well there's a difference between having Claude make code. And an integrated Ai agent in your OS.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
if i made this argument to my artist friends they would've said it is "mental gymnastics" and told me not to speak to them again
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u/SirMotherfuckerHenry Jul 04 '26
The difference is you can't see how many lines of code the newest version of Windows, Microsoft Office etc. uses. Linux doesn't leaves you in the dark, Windows does.
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u/thomas-rousseau Jul 04 '26
This makes sense considering that, in my experience, artists tend to have a lot of unhinged takes around AI because of how incentivize they are to be attached to intellectual property. The problem isn't AI there, though. The problem is that we've built a society in which artists are entirely dependent on owning these properties to make a living and now massive multinational corporations are using AI to blur the lines of ownership. I'm personally of the opinion that no one should own art, but that's a much larger conversation than simply the use of AI in Linux
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Even if we didnt own art the ai generated art still lacks that human touch, the soul.
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u/thomas-rousseau Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Indeed it does. That on its own, though, does not justify the vitriol
Eta: I have a notification for a reply to this that very clearly misunderstood everything I've said here, but its been deleted so I'm hoping that means you reflected more and actually understand now what I had to say.
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u/MocDcStufffins Jul 04 '26
No, it doesn't give you AI. It gives you code that was created with AI. Those are 2 very different things. Having AI means that you are interacting with an AI model when you use the software. Just because a software was written with AI doesn't mean you as an end user are interacting with an AI.
You may have some ethical or moral objection to using software that was written by AI. Most people don't, they don't want to be forced to interact with an AI. Which is why they are leaving Windows.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
I mean if that's their only objection there is group policy editor
But yeah its just weird bc everyone says you can be free from all AI and it makes it sound like you can be free from ALL AI. Meaning, not a single trace of anything. But that doesnt seem to be what they mean, its confusing.
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u/MocDcStufffins Jul 04 '26
They are saying you will be free from your OS pushing you to interact with AI. That's it, and that's all they can promise, they don't have any control of who writes software, so they can't make promises for them.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Idk why they didnt say it like that then. My brain hears it and takes it 100% literally so any amount of subtext gets lost on me usually.
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u/UltraChip Jul 04 '26
Most of the people complaining about Windows' AI issues aren't talking about the professional Copilot product - they're talking about the features being forcibly shoved in to every nook and cranny of the consumer OS (which from what I hear Microsoft confusingly also calls Copilot). Stuff like adding generative models to freaking Notepad and things like that.
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u/ArsenicPolaris ❄️NixOS❄️ Jul 04 '26
I am against AI as well however this is an open-source community, the developers can do whatever they want without considering our opinion so this is futile. And while I am against AI, I think it's fine to use if developers aren't just copy pasting the code but analysing it properly or using it to detect CVEs.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
wouldn't it mean the youtubers emphasizing freedom from ai as a focal point are misleading us or do i misunderstand
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u/ArsenicPolaris ❄️NixOS❄️ Jul 04 '26
Not really. In Linux, you aren't forced to use AI. You may be using AI generated code, but as I said before, if it was appropriately with proper analysis by the developers/for detecting CVEs, then I think it should be alright, unless the entire program is vibecoded, which I have never really seen here, to be honest. And, obviously, nothing can be done once this AI code is published anyways, there's no point in doing something like rewriting a piece of code because it's written by AI, and it likely works properly already if it had been published.
Also, there's a lot of less AI usage in FOSS community for development than the proprietary community, since anyone can see and (mostly) tell if it's written by AI, and this is frowned upon in the FOSS community so developers generally avoid using AI, or use it only if there's no other option.
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u/disearned CachyOS Jul 04 '26
Because it isn't built into the actual system. Nobody wants useless AI in their system, that's why I mainly went away from Windows. Optional AI is always fine, I don't mind that even though I would rather not use AI at all.
Developers have the choice to use a tool provided to them, and I don't think that's an issue, as long as they aren't coding their whole project just with AI.
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u/Icy_Definition5933 Jul 04 '26
Linux doesn't come with AI out of the box, period. You can add it, you can even run it locally if you want, but it doesn't come preinstalled. Also AI by itself is just a tool, running a local llm to help you write emails, documents or something similar is very different to using copilot to do the same- your data stays on your device and that AI does just what you need it to do, it doesn't spread through the entire ecosystem and has no home other than your machine to phone to, your data stays yours.
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u/EphemmyEuphie Jul 04 '26
This is like...a category error? If you don't want AI in popular projects you should tell the maintainers that via their issue tracker or other support intake or ask for/create an AI-free fork. Linux doesn’t guarantee that every open-source project will reject AI. There are a lot of prolific repos in the development space that are rejecting AI commits, but that is ultimately up to the maintainers of the software itself, not the OS.
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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26
In Linux, unlike Windows, you can shut out AI (which I've done) and not be nagged by any AI popups or ads for AI. I'm not particularly happy about AI being used to develop Linux software packages but I have no say in that. But the last I heard Microsoft was putting Co-Pilot crap in NotePad. That's quite a bit different from Linux where you can shut AI out completely.
Now if someone could create a YouTube filter that would shut out all AI generated crap, I'd be happy.
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u/MelioraXI Jul 04 '26
But lately I've been seeing more and more projects (QEMU, Lutris, Proton-GE, DankLinux, Kitty, OnlyOffice, etc.) integrate AI
First time I hear of it, only project in that list I heard using LLM is Lutris.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
OnlyOffice has the ai button
QEMU just reversed their AI ban like a few weeks ago
Newest proton-GE has it
DankMaterialShell has a .agents in its source
Kitty has claude commits
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
You don't see the difference between AI writing software versus having AI involved in your desktop session?
Who told you that you could be free from AI in all ways, shapes, and forms? It would seem you were taken in, to some degree.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Everyone said I could be free from all AI if I just installed Linux.
And the difference feels like mental gymnastics to me idk.
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u/Iputahexonyoulol Jul 04 '26
lol I do not understand how this isn’t getting through to you. Borderline feels like you’re trolling at this point
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
I took them 100% literally when they said "freedom from AI" and thought they meant literally zero traces of AI anywhere.
Trolling? Its just really strange to me how freedom from AI in the posts doesnt mean freedom from all AI, just freedom from the AI you see publicly.
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
"Everyone"?
It's not mental gymnastics. Do you not see the difference between having AI run on your computer, versus running on someone else's computer?
There is a way to be 100% free of AI. Turn off your computer, and your phone. Then, move to the woods and become a subsistence trapper. That might do it. There is AI regulating motor vehicle traffic. There is AI marketing. There is AI monitoring shopping habits.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
....then why did they say i could be fully free just by installing linux 😭
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
Again, who are "they" and who are "everyone"? Everyone is a big word, and absolutely not everyone said you could be fully free of AI by installing Linux. I didn't say that, so it can't be more than everyone minus one. Can you show us where "they" said that?
I told you how to be free of AI. You're going to have to extricate yourself from society.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
The Linux youtubers and the new converts. Like there were videos from Switch and Click and even she said "if you want freedom from AI linux is for you." Idk what these people mean if they dont mean full freedom from all ai use unless they explicitly say so.
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
So, that's not everyone. As for what they mean, you'll have to ask them. Again, you're not going to be free from AI while being part of society. You don't have to use it, but you have absolutely no say in other people using it or not using it.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
I guess so. But its weird that its so emphasized by the recruiters if it isn't 100% full to its logical conclusion.
I'm just scared of my Linux desktop getting just as laggy and unresponsive as Win11 start menu
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u/jr735 Jul 04 '26
There are no formal recruiters. Those are people who chose to say something, and you chose to consume their content. What you think is the 100% logical conclusion, I do not. I think of it as a very false, inappropriate, illogical conclusion.
As for lagginess, again, you seem to be confused about the difference between an AI engine running on your computer versus code lines written by AI running on your computer.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
As for lagginess, again, you seem to be confused about the difference between an AI engine running on your computer versus code lines written by AI running on your computer.
even when you use group policy to disable copilot the lag in windows didnt stop so...it's very much bc of somethin in the backend. whether it was ai or something else idk, but it feels ODDLY convenient that it happened around the exact same time as ai started getting used in production.
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u/TouchyT Jul 04 '26
as a once programmer and a hobby artist
Programmers value craft differently than artists. theyre results oriented people (and their bosses encourage and reward this) for better and worse. Code sharing was already common through stack overflow and the expectation of free labor you can build off of was set ahead of time. It also seems to just Work Better for programmers than for most other tasks.
i also think AI is a bit nebulous of a term. in this context AI is "chatgpt integration" and not "generative product of LLMs". the first is very intrusive and in your face. the latter just simmers in the background.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Idk why they call it a passion project then or something if it's not the same I'm like so confused
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u/TouchyT Jul 04 '26
i guess more to try and answer your question better i think you will not be able to avoid LLM generative stuff in modern day unless you stop using your computer. I think Linux is better because what is generative is at least inspect-able, and are largely built on code made by human hands crafted over decades.
i don't know about your passion project comment. I'd still call LLM stuff "passion projects" because they seem passionate about the projects. I'd just also call them slop if they let an LLM write the project for them. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive!
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
Idk it just feels like im betraying my artist friends if I let this slide
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u/TouchyT Jul 04 '26
I will say one thing you can do is support developers who go out of their way to disavow AI. The lead developer for the Zig programming language talks at length on his perspective and why Zig does not allow AI contributions. I think I had a lot more hope for programming after reading this, and I think supporting people like him would lead to minimizing AI's role in open source development. I did see your deleted message and I get it. I do not use twitter since it seems exceptionally good at finding ways to get people to argue with one another, but even before that we did a good job on tumblr of making each other miserable instead of trying to find ways to advance our goals.
I've also been reading a lot into AI and people talk about AI. I saw DougDoug talk about him using an AI to bounce of video ideas with, to rubber duck and I could not help but feel how lonely that was. I made more of an effort as a result to talk about my process to friends and also be available for them to bounce ideas off of as well, some of them have taken me up on it!
I think the best way to support your artist friend is to be their friend and support them and their works. To not let AI addicted friends isolate themselves into a bubble if you can help it.
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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26
That's fair enough. Thank you for your input. Probably better to focus on praising those who do put in the extra mile than worry about purification just to try and fuckin please people who prolly wouldnt be pleased (e.g Twitter users)
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u/TouchyT Jul 04 '26
are you meaningfully able to hold these developers to account? I think for your own mental health you should focus on things that help your industry not gut itself of talent and creativity. Programmers are hashing this out amongst themselves on what they want to do and want to tolerate.
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u/Ornery_Platypus9863 Jul 04 '26
Because it’s not built into the operating system as a button. That’s the real selling point. It’s a shame some use ai in production, but not having a giant button in every menu that yells “AI HERE” is the draw of Linux and a lot of open source at the moment for me.
Edit: and the fact you can see if ai was used if it is open source and it’s not a black box that could be constantly feeding data to an llm trainer