posted in Technology
Linus Torvalds used AI to fix a Linux bug, and now LLM critics on Linux face an uncomfortable choice
lists.debian.org/debian-project/…/msg00041.html
www.xda-developers.com/linus-used-ai-bug-llm-critics-face-choice/posted in Technology
Linus Torvalds used AI to fix a Linux bug, and now LLM critics on Linux face an uncomfortable choice
lists.debian.org/debian-project/…/msg00041.html
www.xda-developers.com/linus-used-ai-bug-llm-critics-face-choice/Replying to @themachinestops@lemmy.dbzer0.com
In his commit message:
[And this was a debug session from hell, enormously helped by an AI doing much of the grunt-work.
I’d like to call it my tireless helper, but the AI several times stated flat out that this was impossible and unsolvable and that we should just write a report about it.
I suspect those things have been trained by people who may not be quite as stubborn as I am.
But while the AI was ready to give up several times, it did keep adding debug code and analyzing it faithfully when I pushed. So credit where credit is due and I let the AI write the commit message above.
This is basically a one-liner fixing a bogus “round_up()” to a “round_down()”, but there were 24 patches adding more and more debug information to this, and 18 kernel boot to finally narrow it down to this. - Linus ]
Didn’t he state quite early on that LLMs were a good tool to spot bugs? Found this from 3 years ago: blog.mathieuacher.com/LinusTorvaldsLLM/
Hackers use LLMs to spot odd exploits so it makes sense developers use them too. The usage of LLMs in development likely won‘t make Linux better or safer overall, because bugs and exploits wouldn‘t have been found by either side without it in the first place. It‘s like pandora‘s box where Linus is kind of forced to use it. If that makes sense.
Replying to @CosmoNova@lemmy.world
Like an accelerating arms race.
Replying to @NuanceDemon@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Yes, but this has always been the case before and after this phony “AI” bullshit.
Replying to @CosmoNova@lemmy.world
He might consider himself forced to use it to find bugs. He wouldn’t be forced to use it to write the fix.
(Now you might say he wasn’t or isn’t, but even if that were true for the kernel at large this doesn’t seem to be: www.theregister.com/os-platforms/2026/…/5285268 And this seems like mostly to be on Linus, for not stepping in here.)
Replying to @CosmoNova@lemmy.world
Following the hacker arm race is a good point. But also the number of bugs is not a bottomless pit. If an LLM allows to find more, and hopefully the test and reviews are good enough to limit the new opportunities to introduce some from LLMs, it should reduce the overall number of bugs and make the software generally safer.
also the number of bugs is not a bottomless pit.
Are you forgetting about Microsoft?
The frequency of bugs and exploits has increased exponentially since AI came about and I don’t think it’s due to hacker sophistication at all. Most of the advanced tools to find exploits aren’t available to the general public if they really exist at all.
Whatever’s the outcome, the anthropomorphization in that message stinks 🤮
Trying to avoid anthropomorphising something with which you interact via natural language is incredibly laborious, and achieves nothing.
Replying to @FishFace@piefed.social
Avoiding false statements achieves scientific accuracy and honest progress rather than grifting and bullshit.
And TBH it’s not at all difficult for me to distinguish between my computer and a human.
Replying to @tinsuke@lemmy.world
Dude, I’m not an AI zealot, but I anthropomorphize my socks.
Replying to @psycotica0@lemmy.ca
Yeah but people aren’t having conversations with your socks thinking they actually are alive and your socks don’t then talk said people into suicide so I’m pretty sure it’s at least a little bit different.
Replying to @athatet@lemmy.zip
I saw a post about mom dog jumping into a flood to rescue pups. They said they would end up finding new homes for pups. I amphropromorphized (can’t spell) the mom misising her pups, only to read that it’s common for them to get annoyed by older pups and even eat unwell pups.
Replying to @tinsuke@lemmy.world
I like it.
Silly humans, antropomorphizing everything. Say, what species are you?
Replying to @sepi@piefed.social
Correct. A being of power should never anthromorphise. It is a thing of flesh. I laugh at that because I am human and I never anthromorphise even the slightest part of a marble slab. I must be superior to most humans I guess. The forest people, though, those are legit just uninformed I think. I hate those creaks they make. I mean generate. I mean the wind . I mean no i mean the sound that nobody years because nobody is there and only humans and tree people are alive and the other animals are biological machines that we must try to ignore even if they lick us on the face wagging their tiny tail at us. For they are unworthy. I mean its tail. If it generates tail wags it is only an impression of aliveness and we must stand firm beside our tree people brothers and sisters on this.
Replying to @tinsuke@lemmy.world
That’s a core part of the grift. Even people who supposed hate “AI” still promote this kind of anthropomorphic disinformation. It’s rampant.
Regardless of how he got there, this is a pretty obnoxious and useless commit message…
Replying to @Feyd@programming.dev
Seriously. You don’t need to outline your whole journey to finding the bug, commentary on the tools you used, and how it all made you feel, just what the problem was and how it was fixed. Put the rest in a blog post.
Pretty wild seeing a programmer anthropomorphize their applications and mislabel them as “AI”.
The Big Lai runs deep.
Replying to @technocrit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Okay I’m seeing a lot of your replies here this is a really weird argument to make. You’re literally arguing from symantics.
I think Linus yelled at that LLM
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