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Public story · 2026-07-16 · high
The same week, a separate critique called unreviewed AI code slop, but the two arguments aren't actually opposed.
Why now: Willison surfaced Torvalds' mailing list post on July 16, the same week Kelley's unreviewed-slop critique was circulating.
Linus Torvalds shut down calls for blanket anti-AI bans on the Linux Media Mailing List, per Simon Willison. Torvalds is the most influential maintainer in open source, and anti-AI contribution bans have been spreading from project to project. A rejection from him at the kernel level gives other maintainers weighing the same policy real room to push back on it.
Writing as the kernel's top-level maintainer, Torvalds put it directly: "AI is a tool, just like other tools we use. And it's clearly a useful one." He treated its practical value as settled among people who've actually used it, while conceding the economic questions around AI stay open.
Willison's post landed the same week as a separate critique from Kelley, calling unreviewed AI contributions "slop." Read together, the two aren't actually opposed.
Kelley isn't arguing against Torvalds so much as past him. The slop complaint is about code landing unreviewed, not about whether AI wrote it.
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Simon Willison uses Claude Code / Shared entities / Same source domain / What happened next
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison uses Claude Code); both cover Linux, Simon Willison, Torvalds; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison uses Claude Code); both cover Linux, Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Simon Willison uses Claude / Shared entities / Same source domain / What happened next
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison uses Claude); both cover Linux, Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Simon Willison uses Fable / Shared entities / Same source domain / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison uses Fable); both cover Linux, Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Simon Willison released LLM / Shared entity: Simon Willison / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison released LLM); both cover Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Simon Willison released LLM / Shared entity: Simon Willison / Same source domain / What happened next / Tension
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison released LLM); both cover Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Simon Willison uses Claude Code / Shared entity: Simon Willison / Same source domain / Shared topic / Earlier coverage
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison uses Claude Code); both cover Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).
Linked by a graph relationship (Simon Willison uses Claude Code); both cover Simon Willison; reported by the same outlet (simonwillison.net).