Distros prompt you when upgrading packages, not binaries. You get a prompt to update Firefox package, not for replacing the actual binary on disk.

Typically packages including microcode behave the same way - prompt to update the package, no prompt to implement that update (replace individual files).

"automatically" as in "automatically when you update the rest of your distro", not an extra step as the poster above clearly seemed to expect. That context also was clearly from the other comments already.

i dont seem to be able to reply directly. my question was meant as a clarification because simply saying something is "automatic" is very ambiguous. "automatic" to me means giving up control. to me whats being described is not "automatic"