Linus Torvalds says Linux 7.1 is finally back on track after chaotic AI drama

After weeks of fighting AI-generated noise and late submissions, Linus Torvalds confirms Linux 7.1 RC6 is stabilizing for a normal launch.

The last few weeks have been a bit eventful in the world of the Linux kernel. First, Torvalds complained that contributors using AI were reporting issues and not supplying fixes, then the week after, he had to tell people to stop submitting less necessary fixes late in the cycle.

Thankfully, he now says that things have quietened down for the sixth release candidate, which means next week’s may be the last one before the final release. This week, he said that this update was smaller than RC5, but it is still not exactly small, thanks to the use of AI tools. He also said that due to the more normal size, we could be on track for a normal release cycle.

This week, the changes for drivers are all over the place, affecting GPUs, networking, USB, serial, sound, and SCSI. There are also core networking and self-test updates. Aside from these, there are architecture fixes, filesystem fixes, and other random fixes.

In terms of specific hardware support, this release candidate improves support for the ASUS ROG RAIKIRI II, GameSir Nova 2 Lite, and Lenovo Go devices. It also fixes a bigger over-read in the Lenovo X12 Tab handler.

With the 7.1 release looking like it is back on track, the final release candidate should be next week, then after that, it will be pushed to stable to the public. However, you should wait for your Linux distribution to send out the update, as installing it yourself can lead to an unstable system, and it is a lot more complicated to do. Arch and Fedora users will be among the first to receive the update when ready.

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Posted Tuesday 2 June 2026 at 7:32 am AEST (my time).

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