Linux 7.3-rc2 Arrives Heavier Than Usual, With Torvalds Joking the Blame Falls on AI

On September 6, 2026, Linus Torvalds made available Linux 7.3-rc2, calling it unusually large for that stage in the development cycle which usually provides developers with a short break once the merge window has closed, on the basis of his post to the Linux Kernel Mailing List. A large number of bug reports and fixes came in early. Torvalds never identified one specific cause for the size and instead settled on a more modest explanation by saying, "We'll obviously all blame it on AI," without c