In recent months we have seen a lot of old kernel code removed stemming from that AI/LLM noise. For functionality like bus mouse support , it's very unlikely anyone running a 2026+ mainline Linux kernel build is actually using said hardware.
Dropping old hardware drivers under these conditions in an AI-obsessed world has become a new fact of life with new Linux kernel cycles. The latest example is now the Moxa Intellio driver set for removal.
Greg Kroah-Hartman sent out the patch removing the Moxa driver that was used for the Moxa Intellio series hardware of multi-port serial cards. Greg remarked with the removal patch :
"This is a very old driver, and no known hardware is still around for it, and the company says they do not need it anymore, so let's remove it as the LLMs are starting to poke at it and find "interesting" things which will just waste everyone's time given it's not actually used.
So let's drop it. If someone really needs it, it can come back in the future, in a more "modern" way, as the style here is very old..."
The Moxa Linux driver dates back to 1999 and removing it gets rid of nearly 2.2k lines from the Linux kernel source tree as less old C code for AI/LLM agents to critique.
In addition, the IPWireless driver is being removed with the upcoming Linux 7.3 kernel cycle too. The IPWireless driver for select 3G UTMS PCMCIA cards is being removed due to lack of inactivity since at least 2011 and no likely users. With that removal patch, it was assisted by GPT-5.6 Codex. Getting rid of the IPWireless driver is another 3.6k lines.