Since Linux 7.0, kernel developers have been asked to add an Assisted-by: line when an AI tool helped write a patch. Every bug fix already carries a Fixes: line naming the commit that caused the bug. Together they form a record few large projects keep.
I read the whole mainline history for 2026, 82,537 commits, and joined the two lines.
- In October, 912 of 3,600 bug fixes said an AI tool had helped write them (25.3%). In January it was 1 of 1,621.
- Of the AI-assisted commits from the first seven months, 2.8% needed a fix within 90 days, against 3.5% for everything else.
I compared them five ways to rule out the obvious explanations, and in every one the AI-assisted patches came out the same or better.
What I took from it: the useful data was two plain-text lines that developers were asked to write. In mid-October the maintainers agreed to drop the tag requirement, so this record is about to stop growing.
Full method and data in the X Article (1 Nov): https://x.com/con_golias/status/2116932599180374190
