Linus Torvalds has begun using Anthropic's Claude Code to assist in developing experimental Linux kernel patches. On October 10, 2026, he published eight patches to the 'noref-filemap-read-with-llm' branch, aimed at resolving page-cache contention in memory management.
Tests conducted on his laptop showed significant performance improvements. Throughput increased from approximately 10 million to 30–33 million reads per second, while kernel cycles per read dropped from about 2,950 to 725. These changes remain experimental and are not yet part of the mainline kernel.
Torvalds also utilized an LLM to refactor 'assoc_array' code, identifying bugs dating back to 2013. During the Maintainers Summit on October 8, 2026, the community decided to remove the mandatory 'Assisted-by: LLM' tag requirement for commit messages, focusing instead on code quality.
Despite his use of AI, Torvalds maintains a strict stance against low-quality submissions. He distinguishes between experienced developers using AI as a productivity tool and individuals submitting machine-generated code they do not understand.
