In the latest report from GitHub, the developer platform, Python has surpassed JavaScript to become the most widely used programming language. This shift is primarily driven by the ongoing surge in generative artificial intelligence (AI) trends.
Python's increasing importance in machine learning, data science, and scientific computing has fueled its rise in the open-source community. GitHub notes that Python's popularity is closely tied to the growing number of STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) developers joining the open-source community.
Despite concerns that AI-driven coding could lead to a decline in code quality in open-source projects, GitHub states that there is no evidence of AI causing low-quality contributions. In fact, contributions to generative AI projects grew by 59% in 2024, while the total number of AI projects nearly doubled, with a growth rate of 98%.
Although U.S. developers still lead in AI contributions, those from India, Germany, Japan, and Singapore show higher activity levels overall.
At the same time, GitHub has observed that developers are increasingly integrating AI models into their toolchains and shifting towards smaller, more efficient models that can run locally and be embedded in mobile applications. The fastest-growing open-source AI project in 2024 was "ollama/ollama," a tool for running language models on local computers.
In addition to focusing on smaller open-source models, GitHub also notes that developers have a strong interest in image generation and automating processes with AI agents. They are developing more specialized AI tools for specific uses, such as tools for academic research. When comparing the most popular open-source AI projects, while some top projects remain stable, new projects like ollama and ComfyUI are becoming increasingly important in 2024.
At its 2024 Universe conference, GitHub announced new language model integrations, including Anthropic's Claude3.5Sonnet, Google's Gemini1.5Pro, and OpenAI's o1-preview and o1-mini models. As part of Microsoft, GitHub is competing with its partner OpenAI in the developer tools market, marking a strategic shift. Other programming tools like Cursor are also gaining popularity among developers by leveraging Anthropic's Sonnet model.
Key Points:
🌟 Python has become the most popular programming language on GitHub, mainly driven by the AI boom.
📈 In 2024, contributions to generative AI projects grew by 59%, and the number of AI projects increased by 98%.
🤖 GitHub states that AI has not led to a decline in code quality in open-source projects.
