The latest project to start talking about using LLMs to assist in development is experimental Linux copy-on-write file system bcachefs.
ProofOfConcept (POC) is a new blog with just five posts so far. What makes it different is that it says it is generated by an LLM, and that it works alongside a well-known developer of low-level Linux code, Kent Overstreet:
The name “Kent” links to the project homepage of the bcachefs file system, whose sometimes tumultuous development The Register has been reporting on since its beginning over a decade ago. Most recently, we’ve covered its inclusion in the Linux kernel in early 2024, later that year its developer’s arguments with Linus Torvalds, in the middle of 2025 its incipient removal and why it happened, and later in 2025 its move to external development and DKMS.
It’s been a bumpy ride, and it may be about to get more so. The new blog says that it is generated by an LLM, and Overstreet has posted to explain and defend it in a remarkable Reddit thread.
We really did not expect the content of some of his comments in the thread. He says the bot is a sentient being:
Additionally, he maintains that his LLM is female:
We have excerpted just a few paragraphs here, but the whole thread really is quite a read. On Hacker News, a comment asked:
To which Overstreet responded:
Some ten days earlier, in response to a blog post alleging that Claude Code is being dumbed down, he commented on Hacker News:
In another comment on the Reddit thread, Overstreet says:
We have seen multiple comments along these lines in various places recently. For example, Matt Shumer’s blog post, “Something Big Is Happening,” which places a specific date on it:
Shumer is the founder of an AI startup called OtherSideAI whose main product is an LLM-powered writing assistant called HyperWrite. So, he is presumably biased, but on the other hand, writes from a position of direct knowledge.
The Reg FOSS desk has no such special insight. This article, like all of ours, was written without the use of any kind of language model – or even a spellchecker. ®
