I know of AerynOS and Chimera Linux but AerynOS still in alpha and have suffered a few issues with Kwin and I am just not technical or dedicated enough to setup something like Chimera Linux.
I know some might say this is a losing battle and you can never 100% sure of something did not use AI but I try my best to find things that promise no AI, plus, I want to support some of them monetarily so they continue getting developed.
Maybe also being into gaming does not help my case T-T
Regrettably, I don’t think there’s a good middle ground distribution that’s anti-AI. It’s either very technical distributions like Chimera and Gentoo or opinionated distributions geared towards newcomers like elementary OS or more specialized distributions like Nura (formerly postmarketOS) that are explicitly anti-AI.
I think your best bet would be to go with elementary OS, honestly. It uses its own DE, Pantheon, rather than KDE, but I think it’s easily your least worst option. I’ve never used it extensively myself, however.
Of course, I also am obligated to mention that the Linux kernel is extremely pro-AI. However, an anti-AI Linux distribution is leagues better than using, say, Windows when it comes to AI.
That being said, here’s a list of distributions known to be affected by AI as well as those that are anti-AI.
- AerynOS (1)
- Arch Linux has banned LLMs in Issue Trackers (1, 2, 3)
- Asahi Linux (1)
- Chimera Linux (1)
- elementary OS (1)
- Gentoo Linux (1)
- Hyperbola GNU/Linux-libre (1)
- Nura (1)
- secureblue (1)
- gnome OS Majority of GNOME developers reject ai, even if there is no ai policy yet
What’s wrong with Void though? I think they clearly stated that it’s against their policy.
The policy doesn’t seem to be a full ban on AI within the distribution’s infrastructure, permitting some usage such as for translation and for research.
For anything else, this would be a mild annoyance to me.
For a Linux distribution, not fully banning AI is a dealbreaker for me due to the direction that the Linux kernel is going. Thus the resistance that a Linux distribution does against AI must be stronger for me to consider it, especially when there are other Unix-like OSes that have less AI-generated code due to not using the Linux kernel.
This line of thinking also helps me narrow down Linux distributions to recommend.
I see. Translation part is fine in my opinion but I too am not so sure about the research part and it can lead to something wrong even though the code is not written by it in the first hand.
This user did mention they did not have technical skills required to set-up and install Chimera Linux…Suggesting either Gentoo or NetBSD is genuinely an appalling choice in this case. Both of those require a lot from their users to get into a basic TTY window, after installing as there is no automated desktop environment installed. NetBSD is particularly more difficult to access because of boot requirements and the like. It doesn’t run on UEFI machines (not easily) it would require techwizardry. If we want to be kind to people in the community, we have to provide better suggestions for what they are asking for.
I tried installing NetBSD yesterday and it defeated me. Wifi seems to have been the issue. Installing BSD is what Windows people think installing Linux is like.
Please do not construe this post as impugning on the skill or morality of BSD developers. BSD gets way less funding and resources than Linux so their devs can’t cover everything. I’d like to try again some time, but maybe try practicing with a virtual machine before I do it for real.
Installing BSD is what Windows people think installing Linux is like.
Ah, so to a Linux person it’s like installing Windows. If it goes through fine, there’s still an additional two hours of setting shit up before giving up.
Please do not construe this post as impugning on the skill or morality of BSD developers. BSD gets way less funding and resources than Linux so their devs can’t cover everything.
I’ll impugn their morality: their lack of funding is a direct result of them insisting on getting cucked with permissive licensing instead of copyleft. They explicitly condone abuse, so of fucking course abusers take advantage without giving back!
If you want respect, protect the users.
I recommend you read this article.
Also look at the history of the Linux kernel and you’ll see that GPL does not protect against corporate interests from taking over.
I second this, I switched from Linux, but I think if I need to run Linux on a macnien again in the future I’d probably go with Gentoo.
or consider escaping to something like NetBSD.
Lack of copyleft licensing is even worse than AI slop.
Its in the kernel. So if you’re running Linux you really aren’t getting away from it. Maybe BSD would be a better option for no AI but Linux is shot when it cones to that.
True. It really sucks. I’d like to hope at least that Linus will do better than the armies of tech bros that have outsourced their brains through management, Slopya, and Tim Cook pressuring them through Windows and Apple right now. If i have to choose, Linux at least gives me more control and isn’t collecting every last shred of data
I know and it pains me. But, I got used to Linux and I have used it for a while now. Best I got is even if the main kernel is tainted, there are some other aspects that aren’t tainted or as tainted.
You can’t tell now, theres no disclosure. So theres simply no knowing what was made by AI and what wasn’t
And when people say they got used to Windows, they would be chided for giving in and they should “just take the plunge” and switch to Linux. Now that Linux is being assimilated, you want to hold on to it. Why not just take the plunge and go BSD, or fork the kernel
You make a valid point. Maybe I should give it a shot instead of writing it off as too complex for me. I ain’t much of a quiter (learning Linux at first was painful even with guides. The amount of times I encountered a bug and spent hours trying to resolve it 😭).
My friends lowkey dis on me being on Linux since some games they like playing aren’t available on Linux and somethings being a little harder to do but I have come to terms with it and only care about games that can work natively or on Proton.
Honestly I say to expand your horizons. I use Linux, Windows, Mac and have dabbled in BSD and Irix. I’m a big believer in “best tool for the job”. Sometimes that’s Windows, sometimes it’s Linux.
Once you start learning more of the OSs you actually realize how similar they are at the lower levels and gives you an appreciation of where they went. Hell, pretty much the networking stack as we know it came from BSD.
Best I got is even if the main kernel is tainted, there are some other aspects that aren’t tainted or as tainted.
Won’t be long before everything getting merged into the kernel is AI slop
😔
Yeah, unfortunately LLM generated code is being added in the Linux Kernel, it is going to get slopped soon enough. Without labels, it will be hard to track the slop changes vs good sane ones. Honestly, unless people are actively microdosing (chuckles) I mean writing Microkernels and abandoning the mainline Kernel and most of the Sloppy written code…It’s going to be difficult to escape the influence of LLMs on even on Linux distros. I really wish the old white dudes weren’t losing their damn minds after one vibecoding session with a thing that cannot think. Linus, has officially fallen into his slopper era.
Thats just not. There is no “AI” in the kernel. Thats not whats happening.
Using AI coding tools does not equal there being AI in the kernel. Like, surely you are aware that code completion AI has been in most IDE’s for almost a decade? Using machine learning for coding has precedent.
And we need to not confuse that with there being actual AI in the OS/ kernel, because that is also a thing. And that is not what linux is.
Homie if you really think I meant they crammed a fucken 70B AI into the kernel I also have a bridge to sell you. The Linux maintainers are using AI to maintain the kernel. I get that this is text and there is no other component but come on. You can’t honestly have thought I meant that they put an entire fucken AI black box inside the Linux kernel.
fucken
Short for ‘fuckeng’?
“fucken’ is normal in Australia, commonly used like this: You fucken dropkicks better fucken run, the fucken dropbears are fucken coming!”
OP whom were replying to, they seem to not really know those things. You and I of course no these things, but they might need it explained.
Their response to me did not indicate that. They are fine. They dont want AI generated code in their OS.
Elementary OS fits the bill, it has a low barrier of entry for you, they won’t use AI personally. However, the problem with how AI is that it is also being used to write changes to the Linux Kernel, and those changes aren’t being flagged anymore (because Linus lost his goddamn mind). So it will be harder to escape the influence of AI through just a distro change.
At least, Elementary OS can promise that anything they made is going to be hand coded and not sloppy AF. They are a good one to put money towards and support, easy breezy to use and their community is friendly!
Thx for the recommendation! I’ll def think about supporting them.
You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy Elementary OS, as the team are good eggs. They do their best.
Yeah, the guy who invented Linux and has maintained the kernel for 35-years is too stupid to review AI changes. 🙄
I get the AI hate, I really do, but some y’all over the top. This whole post is silly, like a distro with AI assisted code is going to give OP the cooties.
Henny, listen, this man did one of the first LLM-assisted patch series on the Kernel. It went bad…Instead of fixing it himself, he dumped that shit on another maintainer and went on vacation. Can you see why I might be a man of little faith? Like, the LLM psychosis is getting him too, it is time he is either retired by force or willingly. His presence is going to do more harm.
He is far from the only person to get AI psychosis.
NetBSD is the way
Not any other of the BSDs?
They recently changed their policy to forbid AI: https://mastodon.sdf.org/@netbsd/112446618914747900
They allow LLM contributions tho…
Code generated by a large language model or similar technology … is presumed to be tainted code, and must not be committed without prior written approval by core.
Long live NetBSD then!
Yea, that list is painting a fairly bleak picture.
Linux kernel and all BSD are basically “lost”, which means FOSS OSs are basically lost. Arch, gentoo and Elementary (and Asahi, interestingly) seem like notable exceptions against the grain, but they are just distros.
Not sure where anti-computing is supposed to be from here?
Honestly, organising around a hard fork of a kernel and committing as a collective seems the only viable way … but we sure as hell know that’s not going to happen.
Redcore (gentoo based), installs via calamares
https://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=redcoreSome links on the subject:
https://noai.starlightnet.work/list.html
https://codeberg.org/brib/slopfree-software-index
https://www.newinlinux.com/ai-free-linux-distros-open-source-operating-systems/
Thx for the links! I’ll check them out!
I didn’t know about Redcore, looks like a pretty neat easy onboarding for the Gentoo madness. Thanks for the link.
I have it installed, but haven’t played with it much. Booted into it yesterday to update it, it “fetched” approx 600 packages and then failed to update/upgrade due to something to do with signatures, I walked away (need to look into wtf happened). Can’t even view their forum without registering.
I also booted into my installation of bluestar just to update it, approx 400 packages, restarted and it deleted the panel on my 2nd monitor (not the end of the world, but…)
My main distro is installed on one drive, I have space partitioned for another 4 distros on another drive, just to play around with over time to see if they make sense, and if they have issues, or something changes with their devs choices, or surfaces about their political leanings, ai etc. It’s a never ending story, I still don’t have a back up distro that I am completely happy with.
My main (manjaro) just works, it is very user friendly and logical, but they have no statement about ai…
The lead dev for https://elementary.io/ is anti-ai
elementary is usa and is based on ubuntu, neither of those things fill me with confidence re: ai
I’ll check it out!
I would be wary of this one for non-AI variants of user freedom concerns, including ability to customize the environment to suit oneself which is one reason that many use Linux over, say, MacOS. YMMV based on preference, but losing that freedom-in-practice is a pretty big step down in my book.
Guix is being developed on codeberg, which codeberg has a general anti-ai stance, so maybe thats something
It also recently voted a more specific stricter anti-ai policy (90 eligible voters; 39 support, 5 accept, 1 oppose (unanimity is needed to pass (probably should change to a large qualified majority as the project continues to grow (maybe something like 90% or 95%? (I’d suggest it myself but while I plan on contributing I haven’t started using Guix yet (I got a fully free computer, currently in shipping (will put Guix System on it when it arrives)) and it feels inappropriate to suggest such a change before I have contributed))))).
You have an appropriate amount of paranthesis in your comment about Guix.
Must say, it looks like it won’t be as complex as Gentoo (I tired installing it a whiles back and oh boi it was 40 mins of straight pain and not understanding what I was doing) but still seems a bit more complex then a graphical installer. I’ll give it a shot on a VM to see how I fair.
aerynOS
