AI breaks coding language barriers, unlocks opportunities for native developers: GitHub CEO Dohmke

NEW DELHI: Microsoft-owned developer platform GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke envisions AI breaking down language barriers and fostering a more inclusive coding environment, empowering non-English developers to make strides in contributing to the open-source coding community. Native developers are poised to make significant contributions to the world of programming.
“AI is a great leveller.It’s going to make it easier to navigate an existing code base without being fluent in English, as you can leverage Copilot in Hindi or Kannada,” he told TOI in an interaction on the sidelines of the ET World Leaders Forum on Saturday.
“On the one hand, I see a rise in embracing Indian or non-English languages as an entry point into the world of coding. In many instances, you’re not learning English and you’re not going to read a lot of English documentation. But you’re just going to ask the AI assistant in the language of your comfort.”
He also said that AI is going to democratise non-English developers to contribute to coding.
“AI enables developers in countries where they are not comfortable speaking in English. We see that often, for instance, in cultures like Japan, where there may be a lack of fluency. These developers want to contribute back, but they face language barriers. AI will democratise that collaboration model even more so than open source has already done,” he said, adding that this democratisation will tap into a vast pool of untapped coding talent to drive technological progress on a global scale.
Dohmke grew up in Berlin in a suburb called Marzahn on the East side of the Wall, before it fell. When he grew up, there wasn't much software back then, but today you can’t imagine a world without software. The complexity of software systems has increased compared to the early 90s. He proudly calls GitHub as the largest team sport on Earth.
“It's one of the few things on this planet where we collaborate with each other without any cultural boundaries," he said.
GitHub has onboarded an additional 2.2 million developers in India, bringing the total number of Indian developers to 15.4 million. The momentum is palpable, with the Indian developer base now having grown threefold from 5.8 million in 2021.
The developer community in India on GitHub is projected to surpass that of the United States, which currently stands at 21 million, by 2027.
“It’s an era of great convergence. India is going to become the largest nation of software developers in 2027 and with the rise of AI and those two movements coming together, it will create a big economic opportunity for India.”
A recent GitHub report showed that developers who used GitHub Copilot completed tasks significantly faster—55% faster than developers who didn’t use GitHub Copilot. Developers using GitHub Copilot took on average 71 minutes to complete a task, while developers who didn’t use GitHub Copilot took on average 161 minutes.
“Companies are beginning to analyse productivity gaps and are conducting productivity audits to become more efficient. There’s going to be enough opportunity for software engineers in the future with increased adoption of AI. It’s going to change the game, with prompt engineers uplevelling themselves as AI engineers,” Dohmke said.
GitHub surpassed $1 billion in annual recurring revenue in 2022, driven by the growth and adoption of the GitHub AI developer tool Copilot. Today, in less than two years, GitHub’s annual revenue run rate is over $2 billion. Copilot accounted for over 40% of GitHub’s revenue growth this year and is already a larger business than all of GitHub was when Microsoft acquired it. GitHub Copilot has 1.8 million paid subscribers and has been embraced by over 77,000 firms, up 180% year-over-year. It counts Autodesk, Dell, Goldman Sachs, Cognizant, Infosys, MakeMyTrip, and Paytm among its top customers. Among its latest AI features, Copilot Enterprise tailors Copilot to a company’s codebase and allows developers to converse with it in natural language.