GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on Copilot and the Future of Software Development

GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on Copilot and the Future of Software Development

Author: Lukas Biewald June 10, 2025 Duration: 1:09:44

In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Lukas Biewald sits down with Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub, to talk about the future of software engineering in the age of AI. They discuss how GitHub Copilot was built, why agents are reshaping developer workflows, and what it takes to make tools that are not only powerful but also fun.

Thomas shares his experience leading GitHub through its $7.5B acquisition by Microsoft, the unexpected ways it accelerated innovation, and why developer happiness is crucial to productivity. They explore what still makes human engineers irreplaceable and how the next generation of developers might grow up coding alongside AI.

Follow Thomas Dohmke: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashtom/

Follow Weights & Biases:

https://twitter.com/weights_biases

https://www.linkedin.com/company/wandb


Lukas Biewald hosts Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI, a series that moves beyond theoretical discussions to examine how artificial intelligence is actually built and deployed. Each episode features a direct, unscripted talk with a leading practitioner-you’ll hear from engineers and researchers at places like NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Lyft, and OpenAI. The focus is on the tangible challenges and breakthroughs they encounter, from initial research to the complex reality of putting models into production. This isn't about abstract futures; it's a grounded look at the decisions shaping the field right now. Biewald, bringing his perspective from Weights & Biases, steers conversations toward the practical trade-offs and collaborative efforts that define modern AI work. For anyone in technology or business who wants to understand the mechanics behind the headlines, this podcast offers a rare, candid window into the process. You’ll come away with a clearer sense of how ideas become functional systems and what it really takes to operate at the cutting edge.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Gradient Dissent: Conversations on AI
Podcast Episodes
Snowflake’s CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy on 700+ LLM enterprise use cases [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 55:42
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Snowflake CEO Sridhar Ramaswamy joins host Lukas Biewald to explore how AI is transforming enterprise data strategies.They discuss Sridhar's journey from Google to Snowflake, diving i…
Elevating ML Infrastructure with Modal Labs CEO Erik Bernhardsson [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:39
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Erik Bernhardsson, CEO & Founder of Modal Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the future of machine learning infrastructure. They explore how Modal is enhancing the developer ex…
From No-Code to AI-Powered Apps with Airtable’s Howie Liu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:12:57
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Howie Lou, CEO of Airtable, joins host Lukas Biewald to dive into Airtable's transformation from a no-code app builder to a platform capable of supporting complex AI-driven workflows.…
Reinventing AI Agents with Imbue CEO Kanjun Qiu [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 48:37
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Kanjun Qiu, CEO and Co-founder of Imbue, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI agents are transforming code generation and software development. Discover the potential impact and…
From startup to $1.2B with Lambda’s Stephen Balaban [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 49:56
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Stephen Balaban, CEO of Lambda Labs, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss the journey of scaling Lambda Labs to an impressive $400M in revenue. They explore the pivotal moments that sh…
Harnessing AI for legal practice with CoCounsel’s Jake Heller [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 1:04:16
In this episode of Gradient Dissent, Jake Heller, Head of Product, CoCounsel, joins host Lukas Biewald to discuss how AI is innovating legal practices and reshaping educational approaches for aspiring lawyers. From autom…