LibreOffice 26.8, released on August 26th, became the software’s most popular update. LibreOffice is a free alternative to Microsoft Office that’s been around for nearly two decades. In one week, the installer was downloaded more than 1 million times — not counting updates via Linux distribution repositories.
Someone might say the improvements to the writing system and typography are a hit among NGOs, government agencies, and offices that use LibreOffice. I’m putting my money on a “non-feature,” though: the statement that LibreOffice doesn’t come with generative AI features due to the technology’s (lack of) privacy.
A day after celebrating the download record and the wide media coverage, The Document Foundation (TDF), which manages the software, spelled out its position in a post titled “Yes, no AI is now a feature”.
The article, signed by Italo Vignoli, says TDF “does not reject artificial intelligence out of hand,” but that the technology doesn’t yet meet an exhaustive list of principles to be included by default. Those principles are:
- User-controlled execution.
- No content may leave the computer without authorization.
- No telemetry of any kind.
- No dependency on a single vendor.
- No compromises on [file] format.
- Entirely optional.
For now, TDF recommends community plugins to integrate AI into LibreOffice.
TDF’s distinctive stance “has almost nothing to do with the technology,” the article continues, before taking a jab at rivals that dove headfirst into AI. For the foundation, “an AI assistant justifies a price increase and strengthens the case for keeping all documents within its own infrastructure,” referring to companies that rely on selling subscriptions.
The Document Foundation’s detailed explanation may disappoint anyone who read the announcement at the LibreOffice 26.8 launch as an anti-AI manifesto.
Whatever the reasons, the LibreOffice 26.8 case answers a question I and others have had since 2023: if the whole market now offers AI baked in software of every kind, is there really no room for AI-free alternatives to stand out? Apparently, there is.