Torvalds: AI fixes made a big contribution to Linux 7.4-rc2

Linus Torvalds, the creator and lead maintainer of Linux, writes in his weekly message to developers that many of the changes in Linux 7.4-rc2 came from various AI fixes. He adds that from now on he will stop repeating this every time: it can be taken for granted. Linux 7.4-rc2 is the second test version (release candidate) of the next Linux kernel. The kernel is the core of the operating system that runs on most servers, on Android phones and in countless devices.

A large test version

Torvalds calls rc2 large, after the largest first test version ever. Part of it consists of automatic changes, made with a tool that updates code in the same way across thousands of files. He had received these earlier, but put them off because he was travelling. They are mostly changes of one or two lines.

Leaving those changes aside, about a third of the changes concern drivers, mainly for graphics, networking and sound. Another third concerns the networking part and BPF. The rest is mostly about file systems, memory management and adjustments for different types of processor.

Fixes faster than reports

BPF makes it possible to run small, shielded programs safely inside the kernel, for example to handle network traffic or to measure what a system is doing. According to Torvalds, Alexei Starovoitov, the lead developer of that part, says fixes there are now arriving faster than new bug reports. Torvalds calls that good news, if it is true. In his view, most other parts are not that far yet, but he sees it as a sign that the tide may be starting to turn.

That is welcome, because maintainers of open-source projects have been very busy over the past year. Since Anthropic released Mythos in April, a model that is good at finding software bugs, developers have been discovering far more bugs than before, The Register reports. In September Microsoft fixed a record 974 flaws, and Oracle fixed 1,449 in a single month. According to Tom's Hardware, open-source projects also complain about large numbers of low-quality reports. Some projects stopped paying rewards for reporting bugs, while others added extra checks.

The coming weeks will show whether the shift lasts. XDA Developers points out that the balance between reports and fixes may look different again in the next test version, and Torvalds also advises not to celebrate too early.

What does this mean for the road to the singularity?

For some time now, AI has been finding more bugs in software than people can keep up with. Now, in one important part of Linux, the fixes seem to be keeping pace, and a large share of them also comes from AI. If that holds, AI can help not only to search the software the internet runs on faster, but also to make it safe faster.

What is the technological singularity? Read the explanation →