New CNCF report: 75% of cloud-native developers ship code with AI. Jonathan Bryce explains why.

AI adoption is accelerating among cloud-native developers, who are leading the charge in integrating artificial intelligence into software development. According to the Cloud Native Computing Foundation’s (CNCF) Q3 2026 State of Cloud Native Development report, 21.2 million developers—41% of the global developer population—work with cloud-native technologies. Of those, 75% use AI to write and ship code, compared with just 50% of non-cloud-native developers.

In this episode of The New Stack podcast, CNCF Executive Director Jonathan Bryce discusses the rapid growth of the cloud-native ecosystem, evolving developer trends, and the expanding role of open source in driving innovation.

Bryce highlights CNCF’s project maturity process, from sandbox to incubation and graduation, and explores emerging technologies such as KubeRay and Agent Substrate alongside graduating projects including KubeVirt, Karmada, and Kubeflow.

The conversation also examines the Kubernetes AI Conformance program and why understanding open-source technologies is increasingly essential for organizations seeking flexibility, innovation, and competitive advantage in an AI-driven world.

Learn more from The New Stack around the latest developments around the State of the Cloud and the evolving cloud native ecosystem.

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