Microsoft's GitHub versus GitLab. Illustration by Clark Miller
If you want to understand how Microsoft’s embrace of artificial intelligence is driving growth in its business, take a look at GitHub, a business it bought a few years ago that stores code for software developers around the world.
It’s no secret that developers have flocked to GitHub Copilot, an AI-powered coding assistant Microsoft developed with OpenAI. But Microsoft is making strides toward its bigger goal: convincing those customers to also rent its Azure cloud servers—a higher-margin business than the AI.