TypeScript overtook Python and JavaScript to become GitHub’s most-used language in August 2025, marking the most significant language shift in over a decade. The surge—driven by AI coding tools and framework defaults—saw TypeScript gain over 1 million contributors in a single year, a 66% year-over-year increase that reflects a fundamental change in how developers approach reliability and AI collaboration.
The Numbers Behind the Shift
In August 2025, TypeScript reached 2.636 million monthly contributors on GitHub, surpassing Python by approximately 42,000 contributors. This wasn’t gradual—TypeScript’s 66% year-over-year growth dramatically outpaced Python’s 48% and JavaScript’s 24.79%. According to GitHub’s 2025 Octoverse report, the platform saw 518.7 million pull requests merged this year, with 80% of newly registered developers using Copilot within their first week. TypeScript didn’t just grow—it dominated.
Why AI Coding Favors Typed Languages
The driving force behind TypeScript’s rise isn’t developer preference alone—it’s AI coding tools. Type safety acts as guardrails for machine-generated code, catching type mismatches, undefined variables, and incorrect function signatures before your code ever runs. As TypeScript architect Anders Hejlsberg explained, “AI’s ability to write code in a language is proportional to how much of that language it’s seen.” When AI generates code, TypeScript immediately flags errors that would become runtime bugs in untyped languages.
The impact is measurable. A 2025 study on type-constrained code generation found TypeScript reduces LLM compilation errors by more than half and increases functional correctness by 3.5% to 5.5%. With GitHub reporting that 80% of new developers now use AI coding assistants within their first week, the shift toward typed languages isn’t philosophical—it’s practical. If you’re using AI tools to write code (and who isn’t?), TypeScript makes them work better.
Framework Defaults Drive Mass Adoption
TypeScript’s growth has another accelerant: framework defaults. Nearly every major frontend framework now scaffolds with TypeScript by default—Next.js 15, Astro 3, SvelteKit 2, Qwik, SolidStart, Angular 18, and Remix all generate TypeScript projects out of the box. This creates a compounding “developer inertia” effect: millions of developers adopt TypeScript without actively choosing it. New projects start in TypeScript by default. Fighting this trend means extra configuration work, and most developers don’t bother.
The result? TypeScript becomes the path of least resistance. When frameworks make TypeScript the default, adoption snowballs. That’s how you get 66% year-over-year growth.
Python Isn’t Dying—It’s Specializing
Before the “Python is dead” hot takes start: Python isn’t declining. It’s specializing—and that’s actually more interesting. Python still dominates AI and machine learning with 582,000 AI-tagged repositories on GitHub (up 50.7% year-over-year) and is used in 92% of machine learning projects globally. Python remains the undisputed king of AI/ML development, with PyTorch and TensorFlow commanding 43% and 29% of the ML framework market respectively.
What’s emerging is a hybrid stack pattern: Python handles data pipelines and model training while TypeScript powers app layers and API endpoints. Different use cases, not competition. Python grew 48% year-over-year—that’s strong growth focused on a specific, high-value domain. TypeScript grew faster, but across a broader surface area of web development.
What This Means for Your Career
TypeScript fluency is now essential for frontend and fullstack roles. The language isn’t optional anymore—it’s the default choice across the ecosystem. If you’re avoiding types in 2025, you’re fighting the future. At the same time, Python remains critical for AI and machine learning engineering. The smart move isn’t choosing between them—it’s mastering both. Python for data and AI work, TypeScript for apps and APIs. Maximum flexibility, maximum career options.
TypeScript’s rise to #1 on GitHub isn’t just a milestone—it’s a signal that type systems are now fundamental to modern development, especially in an AI-assisted world. The era of “types are optional” is over. The era of “types make AI tools work better” has begun.
