--- title: Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub &... description: Andrew Kelley, creator of the Zig programming language, discusses the origins of Zig (frustration with C++, Rust, Go, and JavaScript while building a DAW), its... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/zig-2026-no-ai-policy-670k-foundation-left-github-why-zig-isn-t-1-0---andrew-kelley-explains-tleoogrt4 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub & Why Zig Isn’t 1.0 - Andrew Kelley Explains | daily.dev og:description: Andrew Kelley, creator of the Zig programming language, discusses the origins of Zig (frustration with C++, Rust, Go, and JavaScript while building a DAW), its... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/zig-2026-no-ai-policy-670k-foundation-left-github-why-zig-isn-t-1-0---andrew-kelley-explains-tleoogrt4 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/TLEOogRt4.png og:image:alt: Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub & Why Zig Isn’t 1.0 - Andrew Kelley Explains og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub & Why Zig Isn’t 1.0 - Andrew Kelley Explains **[Lobsters](https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters)** · 73 min read · 3 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Andrew Kelley, creator of the Zig programming language, discusses the origins of Zig (frustration with C++, Rust, Go, and JavaScript while building a DAW), its design philosophy of doing more with less, and why it hasn't reached 1.0 after 10 years. He explains the Zig Software Foundation's $670K annual budget, its 501c3 nonprofit structure, and why they moved from GitHub to Codeberg due to CI failures. Kelley defends the strict no-AI/LLM policy for contributions, calling AI PRs 'invariably garbage' that waste review time. He compares Zig to C and Rust, highlights real-world users like Ghostty, TigerBeetle, Bun, and Uber, and discusses Zig's killer feature: a zero-dependency, cross-compilation toolchain. He also shares his skepticism of vibe coding, preference for nonprofit software organizations, and long-term vision for Zig as a C replacement for the next 50 years. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Zig creator seeks 'uncompromising perfection' before blessing 1.0](https://daily.dev/posts/zig-creator-seeks-uncompromising-perfection-before-blessing-1-0-xjndfdjvj) · DEVCLASS · 28 upvotes · 14 comments --- Tags: [#compiler](https://daily.dev/tags/compiler), [#zig](https://daily.dev/tags/zig) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/zig-2026-no-ai-policy-670k-foundation-left-github-why-zig-isn-t-1-0---andrew-kelley-explains-tleoogrt4) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub & Why Zig Isn’t 1.0 - Andrew Kelley Explains","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/zig-2026-no-ai-policy-670k-foundation-left-github-why-zig-isn-t-1-0---andrew-kelley-explains-tleoogrt4","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/zig-2026-no-ai-policy-670k-foundation-left-github-why-zig-isn-t-1-0---andrew-kelley-explains-tleoogrt4"},"datePublished":"2026-05-27T19:09:04.915Z","dateModified":"2026-05-27T19:09:35.524Z","description":"Andrew Kelley, creator of the Zig programming language, discusses the origins of Zig (frustration with C++, Rust, Go, and JavaScript while building a DAW), its...","image":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iqddnwKF8HQ/sddefault.jpg","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iqddnwKF8HQ/sddefault.jpg","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Lobsters","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Lobsters","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--tl8v_Fku--/f_auto,t_logo/v1698841318/logos/lobste.jpg","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/zig-2026-no-ai-policy-670k-foundation-left-github-why-zig-isn-t-1-0---andrew-kelley-explains-tleoogrt4","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":3},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"compiler,zig","timeRequired":"PT73M","video":{"@type":"VideoObject","name":"Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub & Why Zig Isn’t 1.0 - Andrew Kelley Explains","description":"Andrew Kelley, creator of the Zig programming language, discusses the origins of Zig (frustration with C++, Rust, Go, and JavaScript while building a DAW), its...","thumbnailUrl":"https://i.ytimg.com/vi/iqddnwKF8HQ/sddefault.jpg","uploadDate":"2026-05-27T19:09:04.915Z","duration":"PT73M","url":"https://api.daily.dev/r/TLEOogRt4","embedUrl":"https://www.youtube.com/embed/iqddnwKF8HQ"}} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lobsters","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/lobsters"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Zig 2026: No-AI Policy, $670K Foundation, Left GitHub & Why Zig Isn’t 1.0 - Andrew Kelley Explains"}]} ```