Linus Torvalds to AI critics: stop using compilers if you want to prove you're real programmers

Linus Torvalds has addressed critics of AI with a sarcastic remark: if they want to prove they are real programmers, they should stop using compilers.

Then you'd better not use an editor for writing commit messages either.

Personally, I expect people to try to do their job as well as possible and understand what they are doing.

But that understanding has very little to do with which tools they use.

And, honestly, in my experience, the people I respect and consider smart are not those who avoid new and interesting tools.

The comment touches on a broader debate about AI in software development. Torvalds frames the issue not as a moral rejection of tools, but as a question of whether developers understand their work and use tools responsibly.