Windows 11 recoding with Rust? Microsoft stops wild AI rumors

A LinkedIn post from a Microsoft developer has caused a stir. The accusation quickly arose that Microsoft wanted to completely rewrite Windows 11 using AI. The company now clearly contradicts this representation.

Replace every line of C and C++ code

The trigger was a post by Galen Hunt, a long-time employee at Microsoft. In it, he formulated the goal of replacing every line of C and C++ code in the company with Rust by 2030, supported by AI and algorithms.

Hunt’s statements in this regard spread quickly and were often interpreted to mean that central products such as Windows could also be affected. This is hardly surprising. Large parts of Windows, including the kernel and many interfaces, are still based on C, while numerous applications are implemented in C++.

Wording misleading

The response was correspondingly great, especially since Hunt repeatedly spoke of “our” approach in his contribution, thereby giving the impression that he was speaking for Microsoft as a whole. Microsoft has since rejected this interpretation. Opposite Windows Latest explained the company there are no plans to rewrite Windows 11 using AI in Rust. Frank X.

Shaw, the company’s head of communications, also confirmed that this was not a strategic realignment of Windows. Galen Hunt himself revised and clarified his contribution. It is a research project by his team. The aim is to develop technologies that make migration between programming languages easier.

Update: Apparently my post got far more attention than I intended… with a lot of speculative interpretation between the lines. Just to be clear… Windows is *NOT* rewritten with AI in Rust. Galen Hunt

Windows has neither been rewritten in Rust with AI, nor should Rust be a binding end goal for Microsoft products. The original wording attracted more attention than intended. At the same time, the debate fits into a larger picture.

Microsoft has been talking openly for months about increasing the use of AI in software development. CEO Satya Nadella said in the spring that 20 to 30 percent of the code in internal repositories came from AI systems. Microsoft’s head of technology even assumes that the majority of code could be created automatically by 2030.