Ubuntu's "AI Kill Switch" Is Achieved by Removing Snaps, Initially Opt-In

There are reports that removing snap will break the sound system. So yeah? Will removing AI render the system unusable for users?

The two are unrelated.

We are experimenting with the idea of using Snap packages to distribute Pipewire, Wireplumber and things like libcamera. The primary reason is to make it easier to ship later versions of these stacks on LTS releases so we can retrospectively enable support for new hardware in the LTSs.

This change is not yet confirmed, and we'll be doing opt-in trials for some time before committing to it long term. This capability will also be needed before we can deliver Ubuntu Core Desktop - which is a Snap-based system.

Any AI tools we ship will also be in snaps, but seperate.

You had me at removing snaps.

It's good to see that using Debian means I don't have to deal with either Snaps or Slop.