LibreOffice Now Treats “No AI” as a Software Feature

Meta description: The Document Foundation says LibreOffice will not add AI to its default installation, keeping documents local and offering optional extensions for users.

Tags: LibreOffice, open-source software, AI, privacy, The Document Foundation

Featured image: Abstract technology-style illustration of offline document editing, no people, logos, or text.

LibreOffice AI is not coming to the default installation for the foreseeable future. In a blog post this week, weeks after the late August release of the latest version, The Document Foundation, the nonprofit behind the open source document editor, said it does not reject AI out of hand but “will not add” AI to its software. The position matters because LibreOffice is used by tens of millions of people and organizations, and the foundation has repeatedly tied that scale to a requirement that users retain control over their data.

Background: No Generative AI And No Required Network Connection

The latest version of LibreOffice arrived in late August, and the release included a clear statement: the software “contains no generative AI features.” Generative AI features are functions that use models to create, rewrite, summarize, or otherwise transform text and other content.

At that time, LibreOffice said the absence of those features was a “deliberate design position.” The organization explained that the goal is to ensure users’ documents are not uploaded to a server for processing and that no part of the software requires a network connection to function.

That framing is unusual in office software, where many products increasingly route content through cloud services. For LibreOffice, the baseline remains local processing: the editor is intended to work on the user’s machine without sending document content elsewhere by default.

Development: Extensions Remain The User’s Choice

LibreOffice is not declaring that AI must be absent from every user’s workflow. The organization said users can still choose to use AI tools by installing software extensions that connect the document editor to local AI models.

In practice, that creates two layers. The default installation stays free of built-in AI, while optional extensions can provide AI features if the user wants them and can run the relevant models locally.

This places LibreOffice against the grain of much modern software design. Many companies have packed AI assistants, chatbots, and other features into productivity tools, sometimes at the cost of performance, clarity, or user experience. The so-called “enshittification” critique describes this trend of adding unnecessary and bloated features to software. Some developers have responded by creating or including features that block or remove AI features altogether.

The privacy issue is central. AI tools often require users’ data to be uploaded and processed on a remote server, where the user has no control over how the data is stored or for how long. For sensitive documents, that model can be unacceptable.

Latest Progress: The Foundation Sets Conditions For Any Future AI

In this week’s post, LibreOffice said there is currently “no integration” that meets all of its requirements. Those requirements include making sure users’ data stays on their device and avoiding reliance on a single AI provider, among other considerations.

The organization emphasized that the decision is not a permanent ideological stance. It said its criteria are not a “definitive rejection,” and that the decision reflects an assessment of the technology today rather than a “judgement on the value of the sector.”

The post also returned to auditability. “Any organisation handling confidential, legally privileged or personal data needs to know where that data goes, and the only assurance that survives an audit is that it does not leave the machine,” the organization said.

Current Stage: Monitoring The Technology, Keeping The Default Clean

The near-term path is unchanged. “Until then, there will be no AI of any kind in the default installation; extensions will be available for those who wish to integrate AI features, and we will closely monitor where the technology is actually heading,” LibreOffice’s blog post said.

For readers tracking this timeline, the next signals are likely to be changes in the requirements, the emergence of an integration that meets them, or broader movement in how AI features are deployed in office software. For now, LibreOffice’s default position is clear: no AI of any kind in the default installation, with optional extensions left to user choice.