GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke on Copilot, vibe coding, and AI’s next chapter

Welcome to Decoder! This is Alex Heath, your Thursday episode guest host and deputy editor at The Verge. It’s AI coding week at Decoder. You just heard Casey Newton’s interview with the CEO behind Cursor, Michael Truell. Now, I have a conversation with GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke. In many ways, GitHub Copilot set off the current AI coding boom. But since Thomas was last on Decoder a year ago, the rise of vibe coding has shifted the buzz to newer platforms like Cursor and Windsurf. As you’ll hear in our conversation, Thomas is thinking a lot about the competition, as well as GitHub’s role in the future of software development. It’s a good time to be having this conversation. Thomas has a bird’s-eye view of where the industry is headed, and I wanted to know how he thinks the role of a software engineer will keep changing with AI and when I’ll feel comfortable vibe coding myself. This is Decoder after all, so I couldn’t have him on the show without also asking what life is like these days running GitHub as its own company within Microsoft. If you’d like to read more on what we talked about in this episode, check out the links below: * Developers, Reinvented | ⁠Thomas Dohmke / GitHub⁠ * Developer Odyssey | ⁠Thomas Dohmke / GitHub⁠ * Why tech is racing to adopt AI coding, with Cursor’s Michael Truell | ⁠Decoder⁠ * GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke says AI needs competition to thrive | ⁠⁠⁠Decoder⁠⁠⁠ * OpenAI’s new GPT-5 models announced early by GitHub | The Verge * Up to 30 percent of some Microsoft code is now written by AI | ⁠The Verge⁠ * GitHub launches its AI app-making tool in preview | ⁠The Verge⁠ * Microsoft is getting ready for GPT-5 with a new Copilot smart mode | ⁠The Verge⁠ * Zuckerberg: AI will write most Meta code within 18 months | ⁠Engadget Questions or comments about this episode? Hit us up at decoder@theverge.com. We really do read every email! Decoder with Nilay Patel A podcast from The Verge about big ideas and other problems. SUBSCRIBE NOW!