diff --git a/docs/about/deprecated.rst b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
index 8b136320e2..5e3965a674 100644
--- a/docs/about/deprecated.rst
+++ b/docs/about/deprecated.rst
@@ -327,6 +327,18 @@ QEMU's ``vhost`` feature, which would eliminate the high latency costs under
 which the 9p ``proxy`` backend currently suffers. However as of to date nobody
 has indicated plans for such kind of reimplementation unfortunately.
 
+RISC-V 'any' CPU type ``-cpu any`` (since 8.2)
+^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
+
+The 'any' CPU type was introduced back in 2018 and has been around since the
+initial RISC-V QEMU port. Its usage has always been unclear: users don't know
+what to expect from a CPU called 'any', and in fact the CPU does not do anything
+special that isn't already done by the default CPUs rv32/rv64.
+
+After the introduction of the 'max' CPU type, RISC-V now has a good coverage
+of generic CPUs: rv32 and rv64 as default CPUs and 'max' as a feature complete
+CPU for both 32 and 64 bit builds. Users are then discouraged to use the 'any'
+CPU type starting in 8.2.
 
 Block device options
 ''''''''''''''''''''
diff --git a/target/riscv/cpu.c b/target/riscv/cpu.c
index c9de7ddb4e..115c2d2fa4 100644
--- a/target/riscv/cpu.c
+++ b/target/riscv/cpu.c
@@ -1522,6 +1522,11 @@ static void riscv_cpu_realize(DeviceState *dev, Error **errp)
     RISCVCPUClass *mcc = RISCV_CPU_GET_CLASS(dev);
     Error *local_err = NULL;
 
+    if (object_dynamic_cast(OBJECT(dev), TYPE_RISCV_CPU_ANY) != NULL) {
+        warn_report("The 'any' CPU is deprecated and will be "
+                    "removed in the future.");
+    }
+
     cpu_exec_realizefn(cs, &local_err);
     if (local_err != NULL) {
         error_propagate(errp, local_err);