Mastodawn

The future of AI in Ubuntu https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/the-future-of-ai-in-ubuntu/81130 🤡

Ubuntu started pushing AI and LLM into OS now. I guess any distro *without* LLM or AI is a better option at least for me. What about you?

#ai #llm #donotwant

The future of AI in Ubuntu

As 2026 progresses, LLM-based tools are becoming more and more ubiquitous. Adoption across the tech industry has been mixed, both in terms of which projects are embracing “AI” technologies, and in how companies are structuring their adoption. As a result, I’m frequently asked about what Canonical and Ubuntu will do (or not) to incorporate AI. In this post I’ll detail how AI will play a part in both Canonical and Ubuntu’s future, my framework for classifying AI features in the OS, and how Canoni...

Ubuntu Community Hub

@nixCraft with or without?

nixCraft 🐧Apr 27

@aqunt OMG. of course, without. lol. fixed it.

@nixCraft I was starting to like Ubuntu again but probably stick to vanilla Debian simply because bundling unwanted crap is just terrible IMO. I want to use AI on my terms, not a vendors.

@nixCraft what's your favourite Debian-based distro without the Canonical bloatware?

Chris Hessert Apr 27

Ugh. Does this mean LinuxMint automatically gets polluted too?

nixCraft 🐧Apr 27

@chessert mostly, yes.

Arthfach 🐻Apr 27

@nixCraft @chessert Have they come out with a statement on it? I know Mint removes a lot from Ubuntu already, plus they have LMDE as a fallback as well...

Sassinake! ᑐ ∪ ∩ ⊂Apr 27

@arthfach @nixCraft @chessert

yeah looking at Trixie myself.

I wonder if I can easily upgrade to gnome 50?

@nixCraft @chessert does it tho? i mean.. they also removed snap which afaik isn't trivial and they keep going hard at getting their debian edition up to the same level as the main / ubuntu version

also lts support still has a couple years so it's not an immediate need to jump ship even if mint does cave in and integrate the slop

Hank G ☑️Apr 27

@nixCraft @chessert That is one of my questions. I think it depends on where in the stack they are putting it. If it's all in the UI and snaps then probably not. Based on how the OP is describing it I think that's where it is. In that case I think Mint might be spared. I am curious. I do know that for me this will probably cause me to swap my servers over to Debian proper. I probably should start looking at LMDE variant of Linux in case there is pollution into Mint proper.

Chris Hessert Apr 27

@hankg @nixCraft

Yes. Debian is already my choice for servers (no GUI installed). But Mint is by far my favored desktop OS.

Henri Verymetaldev Apr 27

@chessert @nixCraft

Frankly i'm quite astonished the Linux community is having all this, Linux Foundation also joined an AI consortium.

If it's shoved into Linux distributions anyway - why use Linux?

Squirrel_767 Apr 27

@verymetalsite @chessert @nixCraft There isn't single reason to use or not use Linux. Yes this a game breaker for so many people but doesn't mean also this will ruin Linux overall.

Henri Verymetaldev Apr 27

@Squirrel_767 @chessert @nixCraft

It's a gamebreaker for me alright because it's *going* to ruin Linux overall and it's no coincidence either with M$ buying Github.

'We' got hijacked.

Visited raspberrypi.org lately?

Like: wow that conversion was *fast*.

Squirrel_767 Apr 27

@verymetalsite @chessert @nixCraft Don't get me wrong it's a gamebreaker for me too i hate AI especially in OS lvl. I am against Ubuntu's decisions for years that's why i don't use Ubuntu or Ubuntu based distro for years. My point is just because it has AI i won't stop using Linux overall or this won't change my perspective over Linux because alternatives are way worse than Linux and Linux is still superior choice over them for me.

Henri Verymetaldev Apr 27

@Squirrel_767 @chessert @nixCraft

I think i'm post OS-of-choice.

*dusts off BeOS*

contrasocial Apr 27

@verymetalsite @chessert @nixCraft

The people in the linux dev community aren't all necessarily that progressive in their thought, many are right-wing/libtertarian types who just happen to have a tech-for-techs-sake fixation combined with a dislike for being told what to do, but are still kind of dullards when it comes to actually understanding the broader implications of different technologies.

Henri Verymetaldev Apr 27

@contrasocial @chessert @nixCraft

Though i agree: if these "broader implications" mean actually wrecking anything good, enshittificating everything, i'll gladly pass that cup (before two girls fill it up).

The use of AI does not make one smarter as research shows, i don't feel any obligation to use it but it is crammed in *everywhere* just for the sake of using it.

I object to that.

Sven-Ola Tücke ✌Apr 27

@chessert
You are always free to switch to LMDE, that's anyway the better Linuxmint IMO
@nixCraft

John M. Gamble Apr 27

@sven_ola @chessert @nixCraft

Yup, this is what I have on my laptops and it's been working well for a few years now.

I'm curious, does anyone know why they started offering that option? I was glad to see it, but I was surprised that an organization with a positively viewed distro would split the brand, to use marketing-speak.

@jgamble lmde is the backup plan if the ubuntu base doesn't work out long term, if memory serves

@irina @jgamble that, and also to make sure their custom software (the Cinnamon desktop and X-Apps) don't accidentally get tied to Ubuntu LTS due that being the only base developers work on.

deepfryed Apr 27

@nixCraft nah get on with the program you Luddite! 😹

is Gentoo still around ?

@deepfryed @nixCraft yes @gentoo and @mgorny is very anti LLMs

Arthfach 🐻Apr 27

@deepfryed @nixCraft Gentoo is! I use it as a daily driver and love the anti-AI stance they have.

Tzimisce Flesh Apr 27

@deepfryed @nixCraft Imagine calling someone a luddite while being this tech illiterate.

bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵Apr 27

@flesh @nixCraft @deepfryed i'm sure they were just goofin around

deepfryed Apr 27

@bazkie @flesh @nixCraft 😹 joke sensor MIA, I'll go back to my cave.

bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵Apr 27

@deepfryed @nixCraft naah ignore the haters

blobCat_sunglasses

Tzimisce Flesh Apr 27

@bazkie @nixCraft @deepfryed Fair, can be hard to tell these days.

Cassandrich Apr 27

@nixCraft I don't get how so many folks are still on apartheid capitalist crank's distro.

GDArellano Apr 27

@nixCraft Same.

Magical Cat Apr 27

@nixCraft Hope this update will not be pushed into Linux Mint as well. Otherwise I will have to switch to different distro tree.
I almost don't use slop generators. I requested like 10 images over last 2 years, just out of curiosity what these generators able to do.
I don't want to use so called "AI".
I may eventually need to do so anyway, but by other reasons. I don't like idea if linux having to scan my face or do other biometric check to decide whether I worthy to use computer I bought & own

Fazal Majid Apr 27

@nixCraft I had already started switching from Ubuntu, due to Snaps, not AI. Moving to CachyOS for desktops/laptops, and I've always been on Alpine for servers.

Alessandro Corazza 🇨🇦Apr 27

I think you'll like it, CachyOS is so good! (except the name)

Aleksandr Yakunichev Apr 27

@fazalmajid @nixCraft Alpine feels like the last refuge. It is a great OS!

Yomen Tohmaz Apr 27

@nixCraft Sorry if I am just stupid. There has been so much craze about AI in Windows, and now in Ubuntu as well, but benefit is that supposedly supposed to bring? Are they supposed to provide hardware optimization or something?

@bluebird_teaching @nixCraft The benefit is "look at us we have AI in our thing!"

Potential also money from the AI companies when working with them to normalize their public image, instead of excluding them

Phil M0OFX Apr 27

@nixCraft I hope this is yet another thing Mint look at and say "no thanks" to.

@nixCraft I switched from Ubuntu recently to alpine, so I could nuke systemd as well, kill 2 penguins with 1 stone.

Install isn't as simple, but you've got the same programs & desktop afterwards

@nixCraft If it is used reasonably then I do not care too much...

(I'd really love a search feature through my huge picture archives... LLM can achieve that... 😇 )

François C Apr 27

@theron29 @nixCraft
More like an image classifier, no?
An LLM is not really the right type of AI for this kind of task…

@fchaix @nixCraft Not sure if "just" a classifier; a search using (more/less) detailed description...

Anyway, would you care to elaborate on the answer more?

@fchaix @nixCraft Anyway #2: LLM for Translations, also for TTS, STT...

Although I do see huge issues with how, for what and mainly by whom the AI is being used these days - and some huge negative questions and implications attached nobody has an answer for - there are some interesting and really useful usecases...

Meneer de Bruin 🚂🍉🔻Apr 27

@nixCraft I stopped reading after this blurb: '... through the adoption of LLMs with minimal (if any) drawbacks.'

I can mention a few drawbacks:
* Copyright infringement on an industrial scale.
* Huge electricity usage.
* Huge water usage.
* Impact on truely learning, instead of copying.
* Making certain dispicable tech bros even richer.

So no. Especially if it is implicit and hidden in the system somewhere. Time for another non-AI Linux OS.

ferricoxide Apr 27

@nixCraft

Seems like the commercial Linux distros (and any sponsored upstreams or derived distros they have) are hopping on the LLM train. So, depending on your goals around using Linux, eschewing LLM-enabled ones may be fine or may be a non-starter. Feeling like if you're selecting based on LLM-tainting and inclusion of age-gating, your selection-pool — at least of "stable" distros — is getting smaller with each passing month.

cauZation Apr 27

@nixCraft Count me among those that believe accelerated, potentially powerful tech, backed by the wealthiest in the world, is pushed too fast/hard upon the masses, deserves more isolated, incremental stages of study, experimentation, and then potential distribution, only.

'Life changing' power has been handled more successfully in the past, through highly ethical scientists/methods, than greed-driven #TechBros and their lacky politicians.

bazkie 👩🏼‍💻 bitplanes 🎵Apr 27

@nixCraft I sooooooooooooo hope debian won't go the same way.

if it does, I'll switch, and in the process, pick something without systemd

Draken BlackKnight (back home)Apr 27

@nixCraft
And I was hoping Snap would be the worst thing they'd do.

@draken @nixCraft This. The last push to get me rid of it.

ChefExperte Apr 27

@nixCraft I don't understand the hate here. The author talks about one example of AI being modern TTS and STT models, which would actually be great. And I am sure, that if some kind of AI agent is being brought to the table it will be easy to toggle it off. And AI agents definitely can improve workflows and make things easier. It just needs to be done the right way, and not by slapping "Copilot" ok everything.

@chefx @nixCraft

> And I am sure, that if some kind of AI agent is being brought to the table it will be easy to toggle it off

Why should it be opt-out in the first place, instead of an additional package that sloperators can install on their own in an oot-in fashion, if they wish? I'd argue having AI features being opt-out instead of opt-in is a large part of what many folks (me included) despise about the whole fad, economical and moral reasons aside.

ChefExperte Apr 27

@snep @nixCraft Okay agreed, it should be opt-in. I think it probably will be as well, since people who develop for Linux know how Linux users are, don't you think?

Lost Librarian Apr 27

@chefx @nixCraft Because the way that all this “AI” gets created makes it inherently fascist. Just the mere existence of these models is used as an excuse for inflicting violence on minorities and the working class as a whole

ChefExperte May 4

@irisleveilleur @nixCraft Cam you explain what exactly you mean?

@nixCraft I use Arch, NixOS, Mint, and Ubuntu primarily (different uses). This is just sad and I'm definitely going to nix (pun intended) my remaining Ubuntu machines. This plus the Linux kernel decision of "it's just a tool" is making me think of migrating to FreeBSD/OpenBSD.

@nixCraft speech-to-text (basically on-device automatic subtitles) sounds awesome though

but everything else? EW

@nixCraft "llm distributed by ubuntu snap" is incredible linux-user ragebait, couldn't have come up with better myself

Bogdan Buduroiu Apr 27

- better speech to text
- better text to speech
- better screen reading

This seems like a win for accessibly. From these post, it seems like these features are opt-in, so, I guess you don't have to use them if you don't want to.

mausmalone Apr 27

@budududuroiu @nixCraft THIS.

There's stuff that uses neural networks/ML that ISN'T generative AI, and that's what's getting rolled in.

The post explicitly states that the gen AI stuff is being pushed into Snaps instead of apt for better sandboxing. You can choose to install them or not, just like any other Snap.