Jack Dorsey’s financial services firm Block has deployed Builderbot, a new AI-native tool suite now executing approximately 15% of all production code changes across the company. The system processes over 200,000 operations daily and merges roughly 1,500 pull requests weekly, marking a significant shift from assisted coding to autonomous engineering.
Brad Axen, Head of AI Capabilities at Block, describes Builderbot as the critical layer connecting AI tools to scalable engineering workflows. Unlike standard assistants limited to single repositories, this orchestration layer understands Block’s entire codebase, APIs, and conventions. Engineers can now modify unfamiliar services instantly, reducing development cycles from months to days.
This technological capability provides context for Block’s February decision to reduce staff by 40%. Dorsey attributed that restructuring directly to rapid AI acceleration within the firm. The data suggests autonomous agents are now handling measurable production workloads, allowing human engineers to focus on high-level product judgment rather than repetitive scaffolding.
Block’s transition mirrors broader trends among major technology firms. Spotify executives recently noted top developers have ceased writing manual code entirely. Similarly, Google reports AI generates three-quarters of its new code, while Microsoft utilizes AI for up to 30% of its software development. These metrics confirm that AI-native engineering is rapidly becoming the industry standard.