Microsoft building team to eliminate C and C++, translate code to Rust using AI, as Windows 11 adopts Rust

By Admin

24 Dec, 2025

Microsoft is taking one of the boldest steps in its software engineering history. The company is building a dedicated team with a long-term goal to eliminate every line of C and C++ from its codebase by 2030, replacing them primarily with Rust using AI-driven code translation. This ambitious plan could significantly impact Windows 11, which is largely built on C and C++ at the kernel and system level.

Why Microsoft Wants to Move Away from C and C++
C powers most of the Windows kernel and low-level components, including Win32 APIs, while C++ is used extensively for native Windows applications. Although these languages are powerful, they are also prone to memory safety issues that can lead to vulnerabilities, crashes, and security exploits. Microsoft believes that continuing with C and C++ limits its ability to build a more secure and reliable operating system.

Rust, on the other hand, offers strong memory safety guarantees by default. Unless developers explicitly opt out using the unsafe keyword, Rust prevents common bugs such as buffer overflows and use-after-free errors. This makes Rust an attractive alternative for system-level programming, especially for an operating system as widely used as Windows.

The Role of AI in Eliminating C and C++
The most striking part of Microsoft’s plan is its reliance on AI. According to Galen Hunt, a Distinguished Engineer at Microsoft with over 30 years at the company, the strategy is to combine AI and algorithms to rewrite Microsoft’s largest codebases. In a job listing for an IC5 Principal Software Engineer, Hunt outlined the team’s ambitious vision.

The internal target is summarized by a bold statement: one engineer, one month, one million lines of code. Microsoft believes that AI-powered tooling can modify and translate C and C++ code at massive scale, making the 2030 goal achievable. This aligns with earlier remarks by CEO Satya Nadella, who stated that up to 30 percent of Microsoft’s code is already written by AI.

Microsoft’s Code Processing Infrastructure
To support this transformation, Microsoft has built what it calls a powerful code processing infrastructure. This system likely involves AI models trained on vast amounts of C, C++, and Rust code. The infrastructure uses AI agents capable of making code modifications at scale, enabling large systems to be evolved and translated efficiently.

The team leading this effort operates within the Future of Scalable Software Engineering group under the EngHorizons organization in Microsoft CoreAI. Microsoft is confident that this setup will allow it to translate most of its largest and most complex systems from C and C++ to Rust over time.

Rust and Windows 11’s Security Push
Rust is already a key part of Microsoft’s broader strategy to make Windows more secure. While WebView2 handles much of the modern frontend experience, Rust is being positioned as a safer replacement for low-level native code. Microsoft has been advocating for Rust for nearly six years, and its commitment has steadily grown.

Windows APIs are now ready for Rust developers through the windows-rs project on GitHub, which provides Rust bindings for Win32, COM, and WinRT. This allows Rust code to interact with Windows APIs in much the same way as C++ or C#. Microsoft is also experimenting with Rust for driver development through the windows-drivers-rs project, showing that Rust’s role goes far beyond application-level code.

Concerns Around AI-Driven Code Translation
While Rust itself is widely respected for its safety and performance, the real concern lies in the AI-driven approach to rewriting critical code. Translating syntax is relatively straightforward for AI, but preserving the original intent of complex system code is far more challenging. Even small logic errors in low-level components can cause major issues.

This concern is not unfounded. In recent years, Windows updates have occasionally broken basic features like Task Manager or triggered BitLocker recovery screens. Critics worry that large-scale automated rewrites could introduce subtle bugs that are difficult to detect, especially in an operating system as complex as Windows.

The Bigger Picture for Windows Development
Microsoft’s history with replacing native technologies has been mixed. Efforts to move away from traditional native stacks toward newer frameworks have often resulted in heavier, more resource-intensive applications. Popular apps, including Microsoft’s own Teams, have faced criticism for high RAM usage. Windows itself is increasingly adopting web-based components, with React in the Start menu and WebView2 inside areas like the Notifications Center.

Against this backdrop, the push toward Rust feels different. Unlike previous shifts that focused on UI and frameworks, this move targets the foundation of Windows itself, aiming to improve security and stability rather than visual consistency.

Conclusion
Microsoft’s plan to eliminate C and C++ by 2030 and replace them with Rust using AI is one of the most ambitious engineering transformations ever attempted in the software industry. Rust offers clear security advantages, and Microsoft has already laid much of the groundwork through APIs, tooling, and driver support. However, the success of this vision depends heavily on whether AI agents can accurately translate not just the syntax, but the intent of decades-old system code.

As Windows 11 continues to evolve, only time will tell whether this AI-powered, Rust-first future delivers a safer and more reliable Windows, or whether the risks of automated rewriting outweigh the benefits.