The world of software development is experiencing a monumental shift, with GitHub, the planet’s largest source code host and collaboration platform, right at the heart of it. A significant announcement confirming the departure of CEO Thomas Dohmke by the end of 2025 has set off a chain of events: GitHub is now poised for full integration into Microsoft’s newly formed CoreAI organisation. This move means GitHub is giving up its long-held independent status, marking a new era driven by Microsoft’s deep push into AI-driven development. It’s sparking vital conversations across the global developer community about everything from independence and data use to the very nature of coding work itself.
The End of an Era: GitHub’s Journey from Independent Hub to CoreAI Pillar
When Microsoft acquired GitHub in 2018 for a hefty US$7.5 billion (which would be around $8.96 billion in 2023), many wondered what would happen to the beloved platform. For a while, GitHub largely managed to operate as its own entity, a decision seen by many as Microsoft’s attempt to rebuild trust with the open-source community, which historically viewed the company with a good deal of skepticism. Leaders like Nat Friedman, who became CEO in 2018, and later Thomas Dohmke, who took the helm in November 2021, were key in maintaining this sense of autonomy.
However, Dohmke’s upcoming exit signals a definitive end to this semi-independent structure. Microsoft has made it clear: the GitHub CEO position won’t be directly replaced. Instead, GitHub’s entire operation – its leadership and all future development – will now fall directly under Microsoft’s CoreAI organisation. This new engineering division is designed to build a complete “end-to-end Copilot & AI stack” for both Microsoft’s internal use and its external customers. Jay Parikh, previously of Meta, is leading this new division, and key GitHub leaders will now report directly to Microsoft executives like Asha Sharma and Julia Liuson.
This centralisation reflects Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella’s vision for 2025, which he sees as the “next innings of this AI platform shift”. His view is that “model-forward applications” will redefine every application category and impact every layer of the application stack, compressing “thirty years of change into three years”. Microsoft aims for Azure to be the core infrastructure for AI, with its AI platform and developer tools – including GitHub and VS Code – built right on top. This effectively means GitHub is now primarily viewed as an AI platform, a substantial departure from its original identity as a collaborative version control and source code host.
GitHub as an AI Powerhouse: The Good, the Debated, and the Concerned
Under Dohmke’s leadership, GitHub had already embraced the AI era with gusto. The platform boasts a massive community of over 150 million developers and more than a billion repositories and forks. Significantly, AI projects on GitHub have doubled in the last year alone, underscoring its growing importance in this space. A standout development has been GitHub Copilot, which has evolved beyond a simple autocomplete feature into a sophisticated coding assistant, offering chat, voice commands, code review capabilities, and even app creation features. With over 20 million users, Copilot is widely seen as a leader in the booming AI market. Dohmke’s time also saw crucial multi-model partnerships forged with major AI players like Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI.
However, this deep dive into AI and GitHub’s new role within CoreAI has stirred up considerable apprehension within the developer community. A major concern is the potential for GitHub’s vast trove of code to be used as a “giant AI training set” for Microsoft’s AI models. Some users speculate that GitHub’s primary value is now perceived less as a version control system (VCS) and more as the “largest software training corpus in the world”. The controversial statement, “Either you have to embrace the AI, or you get out of your career,” which was attributed to Thomas Dohmke (though later clarified to be a quote he cited from a developer, then used by him on social media), vividly illustrates the perceived pressure on developers to adapt or risk becoming obsolete.
Concerns over intellectual property and the potential for unauthorised code use in AI training have even led to class-action lawsuits. While a judge recently dismissed DMCA claims against Microsoft, OpenAI, and GitHub, stating complainants “failed to show their code was reproduced identically,” the underlying anxiety about data usage hasn’t disappeared. Developers worry that their private code could “contaminate the Copilot LLM for life” if used without their consent.
Beyond the AI discussion, developers have raised other points of contention:
- User Interface (UI) Experience: Some feel the platform’s UI has degraded, becoming slower and “janky” compared to its earlier days, with issues like slow diffs and unreliable browser back buttons after parts of the site were rewritten in React.
- Gamification: The introduction of “achievements” and badges has been criticised by some as unnecessary “gamification”.
- Corporate Feel: There’s a prevailing sentiment that GitHub has become “unrecognisable” and more “corporate and enterprisey” since Microsoft’s acquisition, drifting away from its initial “social coding” premise.
- Technical Issues: Persistent complaints about GitHub’s lack of IPv6 support also highlight ongoing technical concerns.
Developer Exodus and the Rise of Alternatives
This shift has prompted many developers to explore alternative git hosting services and open-source platforms. Options like GitLab, Gitea, Codeberg, and Sourcehut are gaining popularity among those who prioritise independence, privacy, or simply a less “corporate” platform. Many are even choosing to self-host their repositories to ensure their code isn’t used for AI training, particularly for private repositories. While current competitors might not match GitHub’s sheer scale, the question of long-term independence remains a key differentiator for developers. The feeling is that if the motivation for leaving GitHub is its acquisition by a third party, what guarantees can alternatives offer regarding their own independence?
AI’s Broader Impact: Work, Inequality, and Society
GitHub’s transformation is happening within a much broader context of artificial intelligence’s profound impact on the future of work and the economy. Economists generally agree that AI represents a new wave of automation, akin to previous industrial revolutions. This raises significant questions about job displacement, its effects on income inequality, and overall worker well-being.
- Job Exposure and Displacement: Tasks are assessed for their exposure to automation, meaning AI can either complement human labour (augmentation) or replace it (substitution). While earlier predictions suggested low-wage, routine jobs were most at risk from automation, recent advancements in Generative AI indicate that higher-skill jobs and upper-middle-income occupations, especially those involving writing and programming skills, are now highly exposed. For example, studies on customer support agents and programmers using GitHub Copilot have shown significant productivity gains, sometimes averaging 14%, and even reaching 34% for low-skilled workers. This augmentation can boost productivity, but it also raises concerns about increasing income disparity if high-wage workers are complemented while others are displaced.
- Inequality Channels: The impact on income inequality is complex and can manifest in several ways:
- If higher-wage jobs are augmented by AI, it could increase income inequality.
- If lower-income workers are displaced by automation, inequality will increase as labour’s share decreases.
- The “great divergence” between developing and developed nations could worsen, as wealthier economies with advanced digital infrastructure are better prepared for AI adoption.
- Concentrated wealth from leading AI companies could translate into political power, potentially undermining democratic processes.
- Worker Well-being: Beyond productivity, the impact on worker well-being is a growing concern. While AI integration might reduce stress, it can also lead to decreased job satisfaction as tasks become easier yet more repetitive. There are also fears of increased surveillance and reduced worker autonomy. However, experts largely agree that AI’s impact on well-being isn’t predetermined; instead, it depends heavily on managerial decisions and deliberate policy choices that empower workers and ensure work remains a source of meaning and social interaction.
The Road Ahead: Microsoft’s Strategic Bet
Microsoft’s deep integration of GitHub into its CoreAI strategy represents a calculated, long-term bet on the future of AI-driven development. The aim is to create a more cohesive AI ecosystem, positioning GitHub as a central hub for development, from code generation to deployment. The company’s substantial financial resources and the robust GitHub ecosystem are seen as factors that could help mitigate the risks of this leadership transition.
For investors, the success of this transition will depend on several key factors:
- Monitoring AI Adoption: Tracking how quickly AI tools like Copilot are adopted will be crucial.
- Azure AI Growth: Observing the growth of Azure AI, especially its AI-driven DevOps tools, will indicate success.
- Governance Transparency: Microsoft’s commitment to transparent governance to maintain developer trust will be vital.
The significant challenge for Microsoft lies in balancing corporate efficiency and its AI ambitions with the historical ethos of developer autonomy that made GitHub so successful in the first place. GitHub’s journey will serve as a crucial case study in this evolving digital landscape.