Microsoft has revealed the extent of its use of artificial intelligence (AI) in software development, noting that its AI-powered Coding Assistant plays a central role in code reviews. The tool, developed through collaboration between Microsoft’s engineering and AI teams, currently processes more than 600,000 pull requests (PRs) per month, representing nearly 90% of all PRs at the company.
This internal artificial intelligence (AI)-powered system helps developers by automatically reviewing code, identifying potential issues, suggesting optimizations, and generating pull request summaries. It also allows reviewers to interact with the assistant to gain deeper insight into code changes. Development teams can tailor the tool to the specific needs of a project by adding customized recommendations and contextual feedback.
Microsoft highlights that one of the biggest challenges in large-scale code reviews is the tendency for reviewers to focus on syntax rather than logic. This often results in critical issues being missed and increased review times. Developers also face difficulties understanding the complex context of pull requests, which leads to integration delays. The AI assistant addresses these shortcomings by providing structured, context-sensitive feedback in a short period of time.
After successful internal testing, Microsoft adds similar review capabilities to GitHub Copilot code review feature. The latter is generally available since April 2025. The company reports benefits such as faster review cycles, higher code quality, and improved training for both developers and reviewers.
Despite these benefits, a recent METR study shows that AI tools can slow down experienced developers by about 19%, indicating the need for continued improvement to ensure seamless integration into professional workflows.
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