AI coding tools spread when colleagues or managers use them; users submit 24% more PRs on average
Microsoft researchers tracked tens of thousands of in-house engineers for four months and analyzed their use of Claude Code and Copilot CLI. Adoption was linked to colleagues’ and managers’ use of the tools, while sustained use was associated with developers’ day-to-day coding volume. Those who used the tools during their first week had an average of 24% more merged pull requests.
