Written by Martin Youngstaff writerReviewed by Felix Ngstaff editor
Written by Martin Youngstaff writer
Reviewed by Felix Ngstaff editor
Dorsey’s Block says new AI tool handles 15% of code work
Latest NewsPublishedJun 18, 2026
Builderbot is the “missing layer between AI coding tools and how engineering actually works at scale,” stated Brad Axen, head of AI capabilities at Block.
Jack Dorsey’s financial services firm Block rolled out a new suite of AI-native tools on Wednesday, which it says can execute around 15% of all production code changes across the company.
The new AI tooling, Builderbot, is able to execute over 200,000 operations per day and merges approximately 1,500 pull requests per week, stated the company.
“The best way to think about Builderbot is as the missing layer between AI coding tools and how engineering actually works at scale,” stated Brad Axen, head of AI capabilities at Block. “What used to take months now takes days,” the company added.
The figures demonstrate that autonomous AI agents are now able to execute a measurable share of the actual work that ships to production. It is a scaling signal as basic AI coding assistants have evolved into AI software engineers capable of much more than churning out code.
The AI tool also sheds new light on Block’s decision to lay off 40% of its staff in February, which Dorsey attributed to the rapid acceleration of AI at the company.
Builderbot understands Block’s full codebase
Builderbot is an orchestration layer that coordinates multiple AI agents across the company’s entire codebase.
Unlike typical coding assistants limited to a single repo, Builderbot understands Block’s full codebase, every service, API and convention, allowing any engineer to make changes anywhere in the company’s systems.
“An engineer working on Cash App can utilize it to make a change in a Square service they’ve never touched, because the system already knows how that service works,” the company stated.
This means that production can also be significantly scaled up with the AI handling the repetitive work, and engineers making the decisions that shape the product.
“It means an idea can go from backlog to live in front of millions of customers in days instead of months,” added Axen.
Related: AI agents with crypto could escape and become ‘unstoppable,’ experts warn
Block stated it is sharing details of Builderbot because it maintains the shift from AI-assisted coding to AI-native engineering is “one of the most crucial conversations happening in technology right now.”
“The problems we’re solving aren’t unique to Block: orchestrating AI agents across a massive codebase, maintaining quality at speed, keeping humans focused on judgment and taste rather than scaffolding.”
AI agents are doing more coding
Block isn’t the only firm to utilize AI agents for its software development. Engineers at Spotify have been using a background coding agent called Honk, which runs a version of Claude via Anthropic’s Agent SDK.
Co-CEO Gustav Söderström stated in a February earnings call that Spotify’s best developers “have not written a single line of code since December.”
Google CEO Sundar Pichai stated in April that three-quarters of the company’s new code is AI-generated.
Meanwhile, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella revealed in 2025 that the company now uses AI to write between 20% and 30% of the code powering its software.
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- AI
- Jack Dorsey
- AI & Hi-Tech
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