Here we go... Canonical, the company behind the Ubuntu distribution, has just made an announcement that is likely to displease some people... including me!

On the menu: AI everywhere

The plan includes voice recognition, troubleshooting agents, and automation. In short, Ubuntu is taking a new direction in 2026.

It’s a safe bet that Canonical has learned from Microsoft and Firefox to avoid making the same mistakes.

You might remember the backlash these companies faced after certain AI-related announcements.

The troubling details

All of this will run locally (local inference), not in the cloud. These features should arrive later this year.

However, the detail that stings is the deliberate absence of a kill switch (a way to disable all of this).

What now?

So, you can be sure this will spark a lot of discussion and make some people—who want to maintain control over their machines—think twice.

As for me, my decision is made: I’ve just switched from Ubuntu to Debian. Time will tell if this will trigger a wave of departures.