The difference is that Linus does not actively seem to be part of the cult itself rather than using it as the effective tool that it is for someone who already has his type of skill set. He can actually understand and double check inputs and outputs because he already built a foundation of great skill.
Most of the AI techbro community just wants an excuse to stop paying people anything for their labor and get eternal digital slaves to replace them. They aren't wanting to use it as a tool to help them unravel complexity, they are just using it as a smash and grab for power and control. Linus... isn't that, and maybe it's not great that he's embracing it now, during the height of controversy. I kind of wish he had waited for the crash an mania to die down a little and then show it as a useful tool for people who already have skills.
LLMs are useless for a lot of shit but they are pretty damn useful for code. I think some of his recent work finding bugs in old code is evidence of that.
https://nitter.miningtcup.me/twtayaan/status/2109668665951941101
O'Brien's a ~~union~~ debian man all the way.