GitHub’s COO Explains Why AI Hasn’t Replaced Developers
AI & I
20 HOURS AGO
GitHub’s COO Explains Why AI Hasn’t Replaced Developers
GitHub’s COO Explains Why AI Hasn’t Replaced Developers

AI & I
20 HOURS AGO
In this episode, GitHub COO Kyle Daigle discusses the transformative impact of AI agents on software development, projecting a massive surge in code commits and pull requests. He explores how the platform is adapting to an agent-native world, where non-developers are increasingly building applications, and addresses the challenges and opportunities this shift presents for open-source maintainers and the broader developer ecosystem.
Daigle highlights the explosion of agentic pull requests, with 17 million created in March alone, and outlines GitHub's strategy to support this growth through tools like agentic code review and merge. He emphasizes a shift from per-seat to usage-based pricing to accommodate continuous agent activity. The conversation underscores GitHub's commitment to developer choice, integrating with multiple AI model providers while avoiding walled gardens. Daigle also discusses the importance of iterative AI improvement through hill climbing and model routing, and shares his personal use of an AI agent to refine his communication, noting that people often accept critical feedback more readily from AI than from humans.
02:50
02:50
Non-developers like legal and finance teams use Copilot to build apps
03:30
03:30
GitHub builds agentic tools to manage the flood of automated pull requests
04:35
04:35
More PRs submitted per month than all of last year
06:19
06:19
17 million agent-created pull requests in March alone
08:03
08:03
GitHub's business model may shift from per-seat licensing to usage-based pricing
12:43
12:43
Stay focused on core values.
13:08
13:08
Developer choice is core and non-negotiable.
17:35
17:35
Agents must intuit user needs without explicit codification
19:50
19:50
Hill climbing over moonshots.
24:48
24:48
Humans accept critical feedback more readily from AI than from other people.