LibreOffice is using the lack of generative AI as a selling point: the office suite will not include it by default

The Document Foundation presents this decision as a deliberate design choice, made in the interests of document confidentiality. AI functionality remains possible via extensions linked to local models.

The Document Foundation, the non-profit organisation that publishes LibreOffice, has announced that its open-source office suite will not include AI features by default. The version released at the end of August had already highlighted the absence of any generative AI features; a blog post now describes this as a ‘deliberate design choice’.

Data must not leave the machine

The central argument is privacy. For an organisation that handles confidential information, information covered by professional secrecy or personal data, the foundation believes that the only guarantee that stands up to audit is that the data remains on the user’s computer. No AI integration currently available meets its requirements regarding data retention, independence from suppliers and local processing.

However, the software’s tens of millions of users are not entirely deprived of AI: optional extensions allow them to connect to locally run models. This approach runs counter to the industry trend, where other developers now offer settings to hide or remove AI features deemed superfluous.