05/08/2025

Coding Emerges as Generative AI’s Breakout Star

Some suggest writing code now accounts for half of large language model usage

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Half of all LLM usage is for writing computer code

The tech industry insists that AI will “transform” how companies, both large and small, operate. Tech VCs and AI founders predict that major business functions will be reshaped, one by one, to be handled by AI agents. For a while, many speculated which function would be transformed first. It wasn’t customer service, legal, or marketing: it was software development. Generative AI’s first killer app is coding. Tools like Cursor and Windsurf can now complete software projects with minimal input or oversight from human engineers.

Businesses are rushing to capitalize on the efficiency gains offered by AI coding. Naveen Rao, chief AI officer at Databricks, estimates that coding accounts for half of all large language model usage today. A 2024 GitHub survey found that over 97 percent of developers have used AI coding tools at work, with 30 percent to 40 percent of organizations actively encouraging their adoption. (GitHub, owned by Microsoft, created one of the first such tools, Copilot.) Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella recently said AI now writes up to 30 percent of the company’s code. Google CEO Sundar Pichai echoed that sentiment, noting more than 30 percent of new code at Google is AI-generated.

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