How Ubuntu Plans to Add AI Without Taking Over Your PC

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CretinousVoter@reddit

Ubuntu was born purely because Debian was inconvenient for many users.

That was a long time ago.

It's painless to give it a try without wiping your current OS install. VMs are easy end educational. If you've a spare PC you can install Debian then remote into it from your main machine so you don't have to disrupt your preferred workflow.

Taking a cue from home lab builders with multiple PCs I put Trixie on one box whose OS drive is a match to my main. That lets me remote in to arrange every detail at leisure then swap that drive with my main boot drive for a no-downtime distro swap.

Many current Ubuntu users are unaware how easy installing and working with Debian has become. In 2026 Debian is a practical primary distro for many people who formerly needed or wanted a simplified, more convenient experience.

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dswhite85@reddit

you're account is only 4 months old, assuming ur a new linux user, don't use Ubuntu unless you have a specific need for it. Use literally anything else.

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Junior_Common_9644@reddit

Joining reddit and adopting linux can be two different calendar events, you know.

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Junior_Common_9644@reddit

That time came ages ago.

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Raunhofer@reddit

All the slop makes me sceptical of even the legitimate implementations.

Like, if I could just pseudo type "Make this and X user part of group Duck and give full permissions to Duckpics", that would mean a lot for terminal accessibility and ux.

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deusmetallum@reddit

Why? Canonical is an open source company which really doesn't have the funding for it's own AI model. How are they going to force this on you if they don't have a model?

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brideoflinux@reddit

Canonical's got money. It's a private company, so we have no figures for 2015, but n 2023 Canonical reported revenue of about $251 million, and secondary sources suggest revenue “nearly $300 million” in the following year. That's not Red Hat- or even SUSE-type income, but it's not bananas either.

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BeatTheBet@reddit

Randomly thanking you for putting SUSE in perspective (profit-wise) for me.

I know they do a bunch of work in EU but really was not expecting them to be 3x over Canonical (800m revenue, 250m EBITDA source ). Makes me wonder even more how come OpenSuse isn't more popular...

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kcat__@reddit

There are existing open-source models they could theoretically use and hook up to the system I'm sure.

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deusmetallum@reddit

Theoretically is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.

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CapitalStandard4275@reddit

... Theoretical in the sense they could do it but it's unknown if they would. There 100% are open sourced models which could be fined tuned for such things.

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qx_cm@reddit

zdnet's article said its basically just for amd and nvidia gpu drivers

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7lhz9x6k8emmd7c8@reddit

Only 95% of the market?

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SystemAxis@reddit

As long as it’s optional and not baked into core workflows, it’s fine. People just don’t want another “can’t turn it off” situation.

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killersteak@reddit

So, all this is, is an LLM that can be done with one snap command, instead of one apt command and the several that tell which model and configuration etc to use?

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Davoomer@reddit

Omg! I expect this doesn’t affect mint. So, I don’t know where to move if something like that happens.

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TerribleReason4195@reddit

It will not. Mint has done a great job of removing the slop out of Ubuntu. If Ubuntu somehow turns bad, then the Mint team will activate their backup plan, LMDE.

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johncate73@reddit

I will just avoid Ubuntu and then I don't have to worry about their artificial ignorance taking over my PC. Problem solved.

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Greenlit_Hightower@reddit

Why am I not surprised that Caninical jumps on that train... If anything, this should be application level, not OS level.

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Resident-Cricket-710@reddit

safe to assume you didnt read the article?

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Damaniel2@reddit

I don't need to. I don't want slop in my OS. I left Windows because of Copilot - the last thing we need is that garbage leaking its way into FOSS too.

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Resident-Cricket-710@reddit

"If you want your Ubuntu installation to be completely AI free, all you’ll have to do is remove the Snaps."

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Hrafna55@reddit

Ok. That should be a toggle in the OS installation wizard then.

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Resident-Cricket-710@reddit

"the use of AI will be opt-in, meaning you have to tick an on box to start it up."

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deusmetallum@reddit

Can't you just let people be angry in their ignorance? What's wrong with you!

/s

But seriously, damn near every thread on this issue has been "muh canonical bad. canonical copying microslop. muh don't want AI forced on me." ... like ... it's not? You'd have to configure your AI model for it to work. Just don't do that.

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thomas-rousseau@reddit

I'm generally a Canonical hater, but they are absolutely going about this in the best possible way. It sure sucks to be reminded of how many of my fellow haters have absolutely no idea what they're talking about

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KimmyMario@reddit

Sometimes you just gotta be like this https://postimg.cc/6TxjB7Br

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Resident-Cricket-710@reddit

hah

im so tired of people having knee jerk reactions to stuff with out taking the time to read or understand what they're commenting on.

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kcat__@reddit

Ok. But is it going to UNINSTALL itself automatically when I no longer need it? And then turn itself back on when it detects I need it again? HUH?

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Greenlit_Hightower@reddit

Safe to assume that they will go all in no matter what the article says, as will Red Hat...

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zeanox@reddit

So that's a no :)

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KimmyMario@reddit

People will literally leave their reading comprehension and critical thinking skills behind if it means they can hate on Ubuntu

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GangstaWaffles@reddit

Canonical is itching to become the microslop of the Linux community

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BecarioDailyPlanet@reddit

I’m telling you right now: 80% of the AI tools Ubuntu is planning will be for the corporate sector, likely tied to Ubuntu Pro. Another 15% will be developer-focused, and the remaining 5% might—just might—be interesting for average users.

Canonical knows there’s no money to be made with the desktop user, so they aren't going to waste time developing the kind of features you see on Android, Windows, and soon, Mac. They will limit themselves to accessibility improvements (which always look good in release notes) and perhaps a support app where users can ask questions and get quick answers from an AI trained on official Ubuntu documentation and the wiki.

People are already imagining things like an AI file organizer. That would be a job for GNOME, not Canonical—and Canonical seems increasingly intent on sticking to whatever GNOME provides to avoid wasting time on long-term maintenance.

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cekoya@reddit

As long as it's a "Do you want AI?" checkbox during install, I think it's alright.

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rafuru@reddit

Sure, Jan