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Emergent Founder: 90% of Code Shipped Has No Human Touch Due to AI
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News18•26-09-2026, 12:26
Emergent Founder: 90% of Code Shipped Has No Human Touch Due to AI
- •Mukund Jha, Founder of Emergent, revealed that approximately 90% of the code his company ships now lacks direct human involvement, showcasing AI's expanded role beyond coding assistance.
- •Jha highlighted AI's ability to produce working software, citing an example where a feature estimated to take 2-3 weeks was completed in just two days, demonstrating significant speed improvements.
- •Emergent is shifting towards autonomous business automation, building AI agents that perform tasks rather than merely responding to prompts, with over 30,000 businesses using their persistent agent products daily.
- •Jha warned of "AI slop," the risk of generating large amounts of low-quality or unnecessary code due to increased speed, emphasizing that faster development doesn't automatically mean better software.
- •The discussion also touched on the growing capabilities of open-source AI models, making advanced AI more accessible to startups and improving margins, while India focuses on building AI capabilities and reducing costs for widespread adoption.
Key Questions Answered
According to Mukund Jha, Founder of Emergent, around 90 per cent of the code shipped by his company now has no direct human touch.
Jha made his remarks during a panel titled “India’s AI Unicorns: Models, Moats & the Race to Scale” at the Moneycontrol Startup Conclave 2026 on September 26, 2026.
Mukund Jha pointed to the risk of “AI slop,” which is the possibility of producing large amounts of low-quality or unnecessary code when software is generated at much higher speeds.
