LibreOffice says it will not add default AI features for now

The Document Foundation says LibreOffice will not include AI features in its default configuration for now, arguing that no available option meets the project’s principles.

The statement follows the launch of LibreOffice 26.8 and criticism over the suite’s lack of AI features. Foundation founding member Italo Vignoli said in a blog post that the project is not opposed to AI, but has a responsibility to provide software that works smoothly for its users.

Vignoli wrote that a feature should not be added by default until it can meet conditions set by the project. The Foundation said AI must be installable and removable, and absent from the user interface for people who do not want it. It also cited principles including no telemetry, no reliance on a single provider, no transfer of content from a user’s computer without permission, and preserving ODF formatting.

The Foundation said it had not found an AI option that met all those criteria. Vignoli described them as not amounting to a definitive rejection, leaving open the possibility that a suitable option could emerge as AI develops.

For now, LibreOffice will have no default AI installation. Users can choose to add extensions themselves, though those extensions may not follow the Foundation’s principles, the report says.