75% of Google’s new programming code is written by AI

“We’ve been using AI to generate code internally for some time. 75% of all new code is being created and approved by AI, up from 50% last fall,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai wrote on the blog on April 22. This information was also later announced at the Cloud Next 2026 event taking place in Las Vegas, according to India Times.

The head of Google gave the example of applying AI to programming, in which a “particularly complex” code conversion project was carried out by Gemini combining specialists and engineers. As a result, the completion schedule was six times faster than when just engineers worked on the same project a year ago.

However, Mr. Pichai emphasized that although the participation rate of AI is very high, humans still play the final controlling role. “Every line of code is reviewed and approved by engineers,” he said. “AI plays the role of high-speed drafting while humans maintain the role of quality control.”

According to Pichai, this step comes from Google promoting AI agents with the ability to perform a series of complex tasks on their own, instead of just supporting individual pieces of code as before. In some cases, the agent helps shorten job processing time to a fraction of the traditional way, opening up the possibility of significantly accelerating programming productivity.

More than just a support tool, AI is becoming a new standard in the working environment. Pichai said that Google has included the level of AI usage in its performance evaluation criteria, showing the increasingly essential role of this technology.

Google’s adoption rate of AI for coding increased rapidly in a short period of time. For example, in 2024, this rate will only be 25%, showing the strong penetration of AI into the software development process.

Before that, Business Insider reported that some Google DeepMind employees have been allowed to use Anthropic’s Claude Code software for programming in recent months alongside Gemini.

Theo TechCrunchthe trend of using AI to write code is now spreading in the technology industry. Microsoft said AI is currently involved in creating about 20-30% of code, while Meta and Snap aim to increase the ratio higher in the near future. Microsoft’s chief technology officer Kevin Scott even believes that 95% of programming code will be created by AI within the next 5 years.

Experts say that the programming industry is entering a transition period, when engineers are no longer the ones who directly write all the code. Instead, they become “coordinators” of AI systems, including controlling, directing and ensuring product quality. If they don’t change, their jobs could be threatened.