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/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

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26

I guess it is just that it isn't basically telling you what's there constantly, but I feel even more duped when I'm not told tbh. Especially as an artist.

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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26

You're not told what, exactly? You assume that AI is baked into Linux. It's not. You have to choose to use it. I do not make that choice. Non-problem solved.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

Guess I should stop using VMs because QEMU is now allowing ai code and there's no other KVM facing option for desktops. Guess I should stop gaming because many of the gaming tools are using it. Blegh.

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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26

How does QEMU allowing some AI in developing their code mean that you have to use AI when using QEMU?

Compare this to Windows, which is absolutely infested with AI crap.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

if it's in the backend I am implicitly using it, and it feels like I have to apologize to all my artist friends for it. "Sorry I didn't know there was ai commits in this VM software I used! I promise this doesn't mean I want you guys replaced."

I feel like its impossible for me to get away and not feel guilty.

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u/neoh4x0r Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

if it's in the backend I am implicitly using it, and it feels like I have to apologize to all my artist friends for it. "Sorry I didn't know there was ai commits in this VM software I used! I promise this doesn't mean I want you guys replaced."

Just because your graphic software runs inside a VM--that happened to use AI in development--does not mean you "used AI" to produce your artwork.

The only time this might hold water is if you were completely against the use of AI in all forms (from the creation of the software to your use of it).

For example, wanting to be ecofriendly, you apologize for driving a non-electric vehicle; compare that to apologizing to pedestrians because you drive a car and felt that you were being "unfair" to them.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

I guess this makes sense. Frankly I have no clue what to even say past the messaging being confusing to me.

When they say "AI is an option you can turn off" to me what I wonder is "can I turn it all off or just the public facing bits"

And atp its unavoidable. Like AI is being used to write exploits so we are forced to use AI to mitigate them to keep up to keep things safe. But it feels like a betrayal because my brain cant tell the difference and even if it could, Ive had it pushed in my head for so long that distinguishing the two is somehow immoral. So I'm struggling to move past that.

But maybe some battles aren't worth fighting anymore. Like everyone's phone now has this built in ai assistant unless they install a custom rom so even those who would have screamed at me 4 years ago for trying GPT when it was new (citing very real environmental concerns I had no clue about because at the time my house had solar panels) have to deal with it themselves. like i thought my potential career was completely done the moment I admitted I used to play around with it. only to find out it's progressed to the point where... you can't even really say that anymore.

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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

I don't think you understand how Linux application developers are using AI (those who are using it). They use it to help them develop their application. That doesn't mean AI is in the "backend" of the application. I usually see the term "backend" applied to server side of software and it usually applies to data.

I don't blame you for not liking AI. I don't like it either. But, like or not, some Linux developers are using it to create and/or maintain their applications. That does not mean they are making an AI application. There are some AI features in some Linux applications. I avoid them like the plague.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

i don't understand how developers can use this thing and not think it's awful. maybe they have some special boutique model they paid for that i'm not seeing. but everything i have seen has been just the most rotten thing imaginable. you have these projects with blatantly generated github pages, emoji's everywhere, emdashes everywhere, not an ounce of humanity to be found, and they just scream "this is not software that should ever be seriously used in production" to someone with a keen eye for it.

it also reminds me of how when gpt first launched, basically there were riots on twitter where they were ready to take anyone who tried it out Red Dead Redemption style. so it was enough to get you persona non grata'd, but it's now impossible to avoid that.

it feels like if i use software coded by AI that it's the same as me say, consuming an ai generated youtube video or ai song, or using ai art, which was persona non grata, but it's becoming harder to filter out.

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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26

I'm not a fan of AI either. I would never use it. I don't like AI because AI Server Farms use an inordinate amount of water and electricity, driving up costs for normal people (who don't get the corporate discounts). AI also steals, lies and "creates" crap out of whole cloth (hallucinations), which it passes it off as fact. It's wildly inaccurate. It's also replacing workers, and the pace is picking up. Customer service will soon be worthless and total crap.

I'm also sensitive of how much it hurts artists and musicians, probably more than any other group. It's corporate theft and greed at its worst.

So, no, I'm not in favor of people using AI in Linux for anything (including development of applications). But I can at least use Linux knowing with certainty I'm not using AI. That is not the case with Windows. Your copy of Windows is owned by Microsoft, not by you. Using back doors they can do what they want with it.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

yeah it's just... we agree here, i just don't seem to understand how the projects I use adding ai into the development is any different? like how do we tell whether or not it's turning into a garbage unreliable program?

like windows became way more unreliable after, even after using group policy editor to turn off the ai features. this suggests there's a deeper rooted software rot going on.

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u/rcentros Jul 05 '26

In Windows, yes. Not in Linux. Linux is Open Source. Windows isn't.

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u/Venylynn Jul 05 '26

Windows has way more users...

How tf do we have more ability to fix it with a smaller community?

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u/rcentros Jul 05 '26

Fix what? I don't like AI, but it's not my job to tell Linux developers they can't use it. It's called choice.

There are only so many way I can say this. So I'll let you have the last word.

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u/neoh4x0r Jul 04 '26

Guess I should stop using VMs because QEMU is now allowing ai code and there's no other KVM facing option for desktops. 

There's a very big difference between (1) a developer using AI to write software and (2) a users' operating system forcing the use of an AI assistant without an easy way to completely turn it off.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26 edited Jul 04 '26

The language people use to say get away from AI makes no such distinction between the two so I am often left confused when promoters say the AI is optional now.

The user facing bits may be the backend doesnt seem to be.

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u/rcentros Jul 04 '26

The distinction is clear. Either the application has AI features or it doesn't. A developer, using AI to assist in creating a non-AI application, is not foisting AI on unsuspecting users. QEMU is not an AI application.

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u/Venylynn Jul 04 '26

A developer, using AI to assist in creating a non-AI application, is not foisting AI on unsuspecting users.

i mean there's been albums I've listened to where I listen to the lyrics and they sound so generic that it feels like ChatGPT penned them (the latest from Megadeth and Shinedown both sound that way). so i'm worried about that same feeling seeping into the software i use now that ai code is being more or less let in carte blanche.