Not that the Linux kernel approval procedures couldn't be streamlined, work couldn't be parallelized, or anything else like that, which would be a different discussion entirely.

You stated that Claude Code could have significantly sped up the process, so the burden of evidence here should be on how specifically these patches would have benefited/time saved from using LLMs. Hand wavingly saying "LLMs = faster" is too vague/broad of a claim without providing any evidence (and also unfalsifiable).

But xscreensaver theme tweaks for personal use have a much lower standard for quality control, regression testing, side effects, etc than a kernel used by billions of devices with thousands of interconnected drivers and subsystems.

Not to mention the coordination problem to get every maintainer on board and patches approved for each specific area when working on a project of that scale, even for a relatively narrow change.

Claude Code doesn't really help with that so don't see why the expectation would be a significant speed up (and doing it all in a single patch would definitely be rejected).

Particularly when the only source is a friend of the author, posting on a blog named "AI Clambake" about "A weekly, human-powered newsletter for advertising folks who want to stay on top of the AI mayhem" and not a publication with any credibility in linguistics.

None of that means it can't be true, but some basic skepticism is warranted here. Otherwise we end up in a situation like the LK99 room temperature superconductor where a lot of HN commenters were also upset at the cynical "downers" who just couldn't root for a good thing/progress.