The Document Foundation has drawn a clear line. The nonprofit behind LibreOffice, the open source office suite, says it “will not add” AI to its software for the foreseeable future, according to TechCrunch AI. The announcement came in a blog post this week, a few weeks after LibreOffice’s latest release in late August. That release already said the software “contains no generative AI features.”
Most of the software industry is packing AI into every menu it can find. LibreOffice is going the other way, and it’s pitching the lack of AI as a feature.
Why They Did It
LibreOffice calls this a “deliberate design position.” Its reasoning comes down to two rules:
- Your documents stay on your machine. Nothing gets uploaded to a server for processing.
- The software works offline. No part of it needs a network connection.
The foundation says tens of millions of people and organizations use LibreOffice, and it wants them to keep control of their data. Its blog post spelled out the stakes: “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.”
That audit line is the strongest argument in the whole post. A privacy policy is a promise. Data that never leaves the device can actually be checked.
What It Isn’t
Plenty of people will read this as an anti-AI stance. It’s narrower than that. TechCrunch AI reports that LibreOffice calls it an assessment of where the technology stands today, not a “definitive rejection” and not a “judgement on the value of the sector.”
The foundation says no current integration meets all of its requirements. Two of those requirements:
- Data stays on the user’s device.
- No dependence on a single AI provider.
That second point matters. Most AI features built into office software today run on one vendor’s cloud model. If LibreOffice shipped that, it would tie millions of users to a company it doesn’t control.
The Escape Hatch
AI isn’t banned outright. Users who want it can install extensions that connect LibreOffice to local AI models running on their own hardware. So the default install has no AI, and anyone who wants it can opt in.
The foundation’s own words: “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.”
Strategic Context
Compare that with the big players. Microsoft has built Copilot into its 365 apps, and Google has done the same with Gemini in Workspace. In both cases, AI processing usually happens on remote servers, and users have little say over how long their data is stored or where it goes.
There’s also growing pushback against what critics call the “enshittification” of software, where products get loaded with chatbots and assistants nobody asked for. TechCrunch AI notes that some developers now build tools just to block or strip out AI features. LibreOffice is turning that frustration into a feature, which is a smart move for a project that has always been the alternative to Big Tech software.
Tactical Takeaways
- Regulated industries, take note. Legal, healthcare, government and finance teams now have a mainstream office suite whose official position is that your documents don’t leave your computer.
- Local models are where this goes next. LibreOffice’s requirements basically describe on-device AI. As small local models get better, an integration that meets its bar gets more realistic.
- “No AI” can sell. Expect more vendors, especially open source and privacy-focused ones, to market the absence of AI as a reason to pick them.
- Vendor lock-in is now an AI question. Organizations should ask whether their productivity tools are tying them to one model provider.
Outlook
This is a pause with conditions attached. LibreOffice has told the industry exactly what it would take to get AI into the default install: local processing, no single-provider dependence and no network requirement. Whether anyone builds that integration is an open question, and the full blog post is worth a read for organizations weighing the trade-offs.