Linus Torvalds Uses AI to Fix Linux | OpenAI's Biotech Buy & the Software Tax: Hashtag Trending

Linus Torvalds has posted his first publicly reported AI-assisted Linux kernel patch series, tackling a performance problem he's worked on for years. One artificial benchmark showed a 23-fold improvement, though real-world gains would be much smaller. Human reviewers also identified a remaining flaw. On Hashtag Trending for Wednesday, October 21, 2026, Jim Love covers: • Linux and AI: How Torvalds used AI to help develop ten proposed patches, and why experienced reviewers still matter. • OpenAI buys Orchestra Bio: AI agents could help pharmaceutical companies coordinate studies, timelines and decisions as part of OpenAI's Rosalind tools. • The software tax: A Censuswide survey of 2,018 senior IT decision-makers in the U.S. and U.K. found that unwanted vendor-driven changes consume an average 28% of software budgets. The survey was commissioned by independent software support provider Origina. • Google Home's data mystery: Some new speakers are downloading unusually large amounts of data. Google says a fix is rolling out. If your internet plan has a cap, check what your devices are using. CHAPTERS 00:00 Today's Headlines 00:34 Linus Torvalds' First AI-Assisted Linux Patches 02:13 OpenAI Buys Orchestra Bio 04:39 The Software Tax Survey 07:00 Google Home Data Mystery 08:32 Wrap Up and Support What's your experience with vendor-driven upgrades? Have you checked your smart speaker's data usage? Leave a comment below. Listen on your favourite podcast app and share the show with someone who follows technology. Contact us or support the show: https://technewsday.com