Microsoft told Windows Latest that the company does not plan to rewrite Windows 11 using AI in Rust, which is a programming language that is more secure than C and C++. But the clarification is not coming out of nowhere, as a top-level Microsoft engineer made bold claims of using AI to replace C and C++ with Rust.
“My goal is to eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030. Our strategy is to combine AI *and* Algorithms to rewrite Microsoft’s largest codebases. Our North Star is “1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code,” Galen Hunt, who is a top-level engineer at Microsoft, wrote in a now-edited LinkedIn post.
“Eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030” obviously suggests that Microsoft’s top-level engineer, who is responsible for several large-scale research projects, is talking about products like Windows. For those unaware, most of the Windows API level code, and even its kernel, is built in C, while C++ powers some of the apps.
I also screenshotted the LinkedIn post before it was edited out by the top-level Microsoft engineer:
Honestly, most people would not have taken this seriously if it did not come from a top-level Microsoft engineer. When someone with that kind of title and long history at the company talks about eliminating C and C++ and using AI to rewrite large codebases, it sounds less like a random idea and more like something Microsoft is at least exploring.
Moreover, the LinkedIn post repeatedly used “our”, which sort of makes it obvious he’s speaking on behalf of the company.
Following the outrage over plans to “eliminate every line of C and C++ from Microsoft by 2030,” Microsoft told Windows Latest that there are no such plans. Frank X. Shaw, who is a top-level executive and heads communications for Microsoft, also confirmed to Windows Latest that the company has no plans to rewrite Windows 11 using AI.
Galen Hunt, who originally claimed C and C++ are being replaced with Rust using AI, also updated his LinkedIn post with the following clarification:
“It appears my post generated far more attention than I intended… with a lot of speculative reading between the lines.. Just to clarify… Windows is *NOT* being rewritten in Rust with AI.
My team’s project is a research project. We are building tech to make migration from language to language possible. The intent of my post was to find like-minded engineers to join us on the next stage of this multi-year endeavor—not to set a new strategy for Windows 11+ or to imply that Rust is an endpoint.”
While Galen Hunt says people were “reading between the lines,” the reaction did not come out of nowhere. His post used very direct language about eliminating C and C++ by 2030 and using AI plus algorithms to rewrite large codebases, along with a “1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code” line.
In fact, the top-level engineer’s edited post still says his team would have “1 engineer, 1 month, 1 million lines of code.”
The original wording is what made it sound broader than a small research effort.
