GitHub’s report reveals that developer activity reached unprecedented levels in 2024, with total projects on GitHub growing by 25% year-over-year to 518 million, and contributions reaching 5.2 billion. This growth in activity is attributed to the increasing number of people joining the global developer community, particularly in emerging markets like India, Brazil, and Nigeria.
AI is accelerating development, with over 70,000 new generative AI projects created in 2024 and the adoption of Python as the most popular programming language, surpassing JavaScript. Additionally, Jupyter Notebooks have gained popularity as an open-source computing environment for running AI models and other programs.
While AI adoption is growing rapidly, concerns about job displacement persist. Developers fear being replaced by tools that simplify coding and automate repetitive tasks. This concern has led to a surge in demand for “AI literacy” training programs that aim to help workers understand and work alongside AI tools.
However, GitHub’s data suggests that AI is not yet replacing developers, but rather empowering them to shape the future of tech on their own terms. The trend shows that AI development is becoming more transparent and collaborative, with open-source AI projects allowing for public scrutiny of models, faster innovation through community contributions, and democratizing access to AI technology.
