In a recent earnings call Sundar Pichai claimed that at Google now 25% of Code is AI generated (“and then reviewed and accepted by engineers”). In the AI boosterism parts of the web (so basically X and LinkedIn) this number was celebrated: Even Google does AI code generation. So if your whole startup is just ChatGPT in a trenchcoat, you’re basically at the industry standard, right?

Let’s not be cynical here and point at Google’s not exactly stellar recent track record when it comes to great products and software, but let’s ask us where that number comes from and what it means.