Microsoft is restructuring teams to strengthen GitHub’s position in the fast-evolving AI coding and AI agent landscape, according to people familiar with the changes. The shift comes as the company seeks to counter growing competition from AI-powered development tools like Cursor and Anthropic’s Claude Code. GitHub, which Microsoft acquired in 2018, has long been a central hub for code storage and collaboration. However, in recent years, its dominance has been challenged as AI tools offer new ways to write, debug, and manage code. To respond, Microsoft has begun moving engineers and resources between its core AI and developer teams to create tighter integration. In January 2025, Microsoft launched a new initiative led by Jay Parikh, former engineering chief at Facebook, who now heads the CoreAI Platform and Tools group. This unit combines Microsoft’s developer division, AI platform team, and GitHub under one umbrella, aiming to accelerate the development of AI-driven software tools. Despite this alignment, the company has continued to operate GitHub and its broader AI efforts somewhat separately. Over the past several months, Microsoft has been reassigning staff to improve coordination—especially in areas like sales and product development. The most recent move, happening this week, involves transferring a small group of Microsoft engineers directly to GitHub to support faster innovation. The goal is twofold: to enhance GitHub Copilot’s capabilities and to position GitHub as the central platform for AI agents. In an internal meeting late last year, Parikh emphasized the need to transform GitHub into the "center of gravity" for AI-powered software development. “GitHub is just not the place anymore where developers are storing code,” he said, according to audio reviewed by Business Insider. “We want it to be the center of gravity for all of AI-powered software development.” To achieve this, Microsoft is working to make GitHub’s AI tools accessible across all developer environments—not just within the GitHub interface. The vision is to turn GitHub into a unified dashboard for managing multiple AI agents, streamlining workflows, and improving collaboration. The company is also investing in strengthening the foundational elements of GitHub. Parikh highlighted the need to improve key features like GitHub Actions, which automates code building, testing, and deployment. He also stressed the importance of better analytics and insights tools, enhanced security, and compliance with local data storage regulations to expand GitHub’s availability in new markets. These changes reflect Microsoft’s broader strategy to stay ahead in the AI race by embedding intelligence deeply into the developer experience.