Could we all become coders, just by telling computers what kind of app we’re imagining? In this fascinating DLD25 session, Mario Rodriguez, Chief Product Officer at GitHub, and Ina Fried (Axios) explore how AI is transforming software development through tools like GitHub Copilot and discuss the vision of making programming accessible through natural language interfaces.
“Our dream is to make one billion developers out there”, Rodriguez says. “That’s more or less 10% of the world population by 2050.”
AI coding assistants could allow people to build applications without deep knowledge of computer languages. In that sense, future software development will be more about creativity than technical coding skills, with AI handling much of the technical implementation.
But that would not make software developers obsolete, Rodriguez emphasizes. “I know how to cook”, he says, “but I’m not opening a Michelin-style restaurant anytime soon. I know how to bike, but you didn’t see me in the Tour de France.”
The discussion also covers Mario Rodriguez’ personal journey from Cuba to becoming a Microsoft gaming developer who eventually joined GitHub, the need for multimodal interfaces, and much more.
