Microsoft is testing a quiet but notable shift in how software ideas take shape inside the company. Rather than limiting coding work to engineers alone, the tech giant is encouraging employees from non-technical roles to experiment with writing code using artificial intelligence.

According to a report by The Verge, Microsoft has begun asking staff such as designers, program managers and other non-developer employees to use Anthropic’s Claude Code — an AI-driven tool designed to generate functional software code. While the company has not issued an official announcement, the internal trial signals a broader effort to shorten the gap between idea and execution.

The approach reflects a growing belief within Microsoft that artificial intelligence can remove traditional barriers to product experimentation. With AI tools now capable of producing workable code, employees no longer need advanced programming skills to create early versions of an idea. Instead of waiting for engineering teams to take over, teams can present rough prototypes that can later be refined by developers.

The experiment is reportedly underway within several major divisions. Staff working in Microsoft’s Experiences + Devices group — which oversees Windows, Microsoft 365, Outlook, Teams, Bing, Edge and Surface products — have been asked to install Claude Code. The company’s CoreAI unit, headed by former Meta engineering leader Jay Parikh, has also been evaluating the tool in recent months.

This does not mean Microsoft that the company is intended to replace engineers or reduce technical expectations. Software developers continue to rely on GitHub Copilot and are now being encouraged to compare its performance with Claude Code and share internal feedback. Copilot remains Microsoft’s main AI coding product offered to customers.

Claude Code’s presence inside Microsoft is particularly interesting given the company’s long-standing partnership with OpenAI. While OpenAI continues to be Microsoft’s primary collaborator for advanced AI systems, the company has also expanded its relationship with Anthropic. Azure users already have access to multiple Claude models, and Microsoft is one of Anthropic’s largest cloud infrastructure partners.

For now, the use of Claude Code appears limited to internal experimentation rather than a formal policy rollout. Still, the move highlights how Microsoft is exploring a future where artificial intelligence reshapes not only how software is built, but who is involved at the earliest stages of creation.

This internal push comes as AI-generated code becomes increasingly common across the global technology sector. In April 2025, Microsoft Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Satya Nadella revealed that roughly 20 to 30 per cent of the company’s existing codebase is already produced by software. Speaking during a public discussion with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the LlamaCon AI developer conference, Nadella said a significant share of Microsoft’s repositories now contain AI-written code.

Similar patterns are emerging elsewhere. In May 2025, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said artificial intelligence was responsible for well over 30 per cent of newly written code at Google. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has also argued that routine programming tasks should increasingly be handled by AI, allowing human engineers to focus on more complex and creative challenges.