Burke Holland

Developer at Microsoft on the GitHub team with a focus on GitHub Copilot.

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Key positions and views

AI's primary impact on tech jobs is not direct replacement, but rather the diversion of corporate budgets from headcount to GPU infrastructure.

The most significant unsolved problem in software is not writing code, which AI does well, but the complex process of getting software into production.

The current cost of AI development tools for users is artificially low due to massive, unsustainable subsidization by platform providers.

AI will ultimately democratize software creation to the point that "everybody is a developer at some level," fundamentally altering the nature of the profession.

Instead of diminishing skills, AI coding assistants are augmenting developers by exposing them to new libraries, languages, and concepts they otherwise would not have encountered.

Podcast consensus on Holland

Points of consensus

▶Burke Holland is an employee of Microsoft working on the GitHub Copilot team, giving him an insider's perspective on its development and strategy.May 2026

▶He actively uses and experiments with various AI models (like Opus 4.5 and Gemini) to build functional applications, such as an iOS app for his wife's business and a native Windows tool.May 2026

▶Holland consistently argues that AI is fundamentally lowering the cost and complexity of software creation, posing a significant threat to incumbent software companies.May 2026

▶He serves as a key source of information on new GitHub Copilot features, including the introduction of agentic workflows, multi-model orchestration, and the general availability of the Copilot CLI.May 2026

Points of debate

▶Holland posits a future where "everybody is a developer," yet simultaneously argues that the most difficult part of software—shipping production-ready code—remains a significant, unsolved challenge for AI, creating a tension between ease of creation and difficulty of deployment.May 2026

▶He suggests AI is expanding developer skills by exposing them to new concepts, but also cites a prominent developer who has stopped writing code entirely, raising questions about the future role and required skillset of senior engineers.May 2026

▶Holland highlights the immense capability of AI agents to build complex software, while also stating that traditional verification methods like unit tests are "woefully inadequate" for AI-generated code, pointing to a critical gap in the modern development lifecycle.May 2026

▶He describes the current AI tooling market as powered by an unsustainable level of economic subsidization, which contrasts with the rapid, widespread adoption and increasing reliance on these very tools by the developer community.

Key themes

▶The Democratization and Commoditization of Software

Holland argues that AI drastically lowers the barrier to entry for software development, enabling individuals to build custom applications in hours or days that previously required teams or expensive SaaS products. This trend empowers more people to become developers at some level, but also commoditizes software, creating a significant risk for incumbent companies whose products can be easily re-implemented.

Investors should re-evaluate the moats of SaaS companies, as technological barriers to entry are eroding, shifting the competitive advantage towards distribution, brand, and data.

▶The Shifting Economics of the Tech IndustryMay 2026

According to Holland, AI is causing a major capital reallocation in the tech sector. Companies are diverting budgets from hiring (headcount) to investing in computational infrastructure (GPUs). This is compounded by the current, unsustainable business model where AI platforms heavily subsidize user costs, a practice Holland predicts will not last.

The end of heavy subsidization for AI tools could trigger a market consolidation and create significant cost pressures for companies that have become reliant on cheap AI-powered development.

▶AI as Augmentation, Not ReplacementMay 2026

Holland's perspective is that AI excels at the "easy part" of software development: writing code. The truly difficult challenges—architecting, testing, and shipping production-ready software—remain human-centric problems. In this view, AI acts as a powerful assistant that expands a developer's knowledge and handles tedious tasks, rather than making the developer's role obsolete.

The value proposition for skilled developers is shifting from pure coding proficiency to higher-level skills in system design, deployment strategy, and ensuring the reliability of AI-generated systems.

▶The Evolution of AI-Native Development WorkflowsMay 2026

Holland details the emergence of sophisticated, AI-centric development practices. This includes orchestrating multiple specialized AI models within a single task, using new agentic features in tools like GitHub Copilot for research and deployment, and grappling with the inadequacy of old testing paradigms for verifying AI-generated code.

A new generation of development tools focused on AI orchestration, verification, and agent management is likely to emerge, representing a significant investment opportunity.

Source episodes

Sentiment over time

Not enough data for timeline

Changes over time

December (Prior Year)

Holland notes a "skyrocketing" use of the Claude model for coding and a near-doubling of open issues in the VS Code repository, indicating a surge in AI-driven development activity and complexity leading into the new year.

January 5th

In a blog post, Holland makes the bold prediction that the AI model Opus 4.5 would "change everything," setting high expectations for its impact on software development.

Post-January 5th

Holland validates his prediction through practical application, successfully building a native Windows tool with Opus 4.5 and a complete iOS application using the Gemini model in a single afternoon.

Present

Holland announces that GitHub is operationalizing advanced AI capabilities for enterprise use, with the GitHub Copilot CLI becoming generally available and new agentic workflows with memory and research features being introduced.

Suggested prompts

How does Burke Holland's view on AI democratizing development reconcile with his assertion that shipping production-ready software remains an unsolved challenge for AI? &nearr;What are the long-term economic implications for the software industry if Holland's prediction about the unsustainability of AI subsidization proves correct? &nearr;Based on Holland's claims, what specific skills should software developers cultivate to remain valuable in an era of advanced AI coding assistants? &nearr;How might the "fleet of agents" feature in GitHub Copilot change the structure and management of enterprise software development teams? &nearr;

Key concepts

GitHub Copilot 1 ep AI Models (Opus, Gemini, Claude) 1 ep Agentic AI 1 ep Economics of AI 1 ep Future of Developers 1 ep Software Production & Deployment 1 ep AI Subsidization 1 ep Developer Tooling (CLI, VS Code) 1 ep Code Quality & Testing 1 ep

Notable quotes

“AI is taking jobs, but not in the sense that it's doing them. It's taking them in the sense that like if you're in tech, that is money that's being diverted to GPUs. Everybody's investing in GPUs and not headcount.”

Burke Holland · Opus 4.5 changed everything and it's all about AX (Agent Experience)

“software is so cheap to create now that if you're a software company, the odds that somebody can re-implement what you just did on their own are pretty high and are only going to get higher.”

Burke Holland · Opus 4.5 changed everything and it's all about AX (Agent Experience)

“While AI agents have demonstrated the capability to build complex software like a web browser, the process of making that software production-ready and shippable remains a significant, unsolved challenge.”

Burke Holland · Opus 4.5 changed everything and it's all about AX (Agent Experience)

“You can beat that thing up to the tune of like a billion tokens a month. I mean, that's like, I don't know, their cost on that is like twenty five thousand dollars and your cost is two hundred bucks. It's just the subsidization that is happening right now.”

Burke Holland · Opus 4.5 changed everything and it's all about AX (Agent Experience)

Report last updated: May 5, 2026

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