For the first time in GitHub’s history, Python has overtaken JavaScript as the most popular programming language on the platform, with programmers using the increasingly common language for AI development.
The platform’s annual Octoverse report revealed Python’s popularity seems to be largely due to the huge demand for artificial intelligence, but it is also used in data science for open source projects.
According to statistics, contributions to generative AI projects alone have increased by 59%, with contributions to AI-related public projects almost doubling compared to 2023. India, Germany, Japan and Singapore accounted for the largest share of this, says the platform.
Python is now GitHub’s most popular language
Additionally, GitHub noted the increase in developers joining and using the platform from around the world: “…many of these developers are contributing to open source projects for the first time.”
Two years after ChatGPT’s public preview launch and the subsequent AI boom, the company says companies and developers alike are turning their attention to AI agents and smaller models that require less computing power and promise more customized applications.
The demand for Python is also reflected in the 92% increase in the use of Jupyter Notebooks, a project designed to support open source software development.
According to the report, Python’s growth to become the platform’s number one language is indicative of the shift in its user base, from traditional software programmers to a broader range of STEM use cases.
Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, and Java remain the most common languages on GitHub, but system programming languages like Rust are also on the rise.
Looking ahead, GitHub expects India to have the world’s largest developer population on GitHub by 2028, while countries in Africa and Latin America, such as Brazil, will also see significant growth.
The report’s launch coincides with the company’s annual Universe event, which it used to do announce the availability of even more models. GitHub Copilot, initially launched with the GPT-3-based Codex, has largely relied on OpenAI until now.
Subsequent updates to Copilot Chat have seen the introduction of GPT-3.5, GPT 3.5-turbo, GPT-4, GPT-4o, and 4o-mini models to address different latency and quality requirements, but now the company promises new model options from other providers.
Copilot Chat has now launched with OpenAI o1 preview and o1 mini models, but Anthropic’s Claude 3.5 Sonnet will roll out in the coming week, and Google’s Gemini 1.5 Pro is coming in the coming weeks.