Every few months I go through the same mental loop. Should I commit to Go or stick with Python?

I’ve been focusing on Python for years now. But then I watch content from people like RWXRob who write exclusively in Go and Bash, and I start second-guessing myself. Maybe Go is the real DevOps language. Maybe I’m missing out.

Then I watched this interview with Guido van Rossum, Python’s creator, and all my doubts vanished.

Why Python Won The AI Race

Guido made a point that clicked for me. Python is human-friendly, and that automatically makes it AI-friendly.

He explained it like this: the same neural pathways that help us interpret human language also help us understand programming languages. Python was designed to be readable by humans. Keywords like if and for weren’t chosen randomly. They align with how we think.

AI models are trained to mimic human cognition. So when they generate code, they naturally gravitate toward languages that were designed for human readability.

This isn’t just theory. Python dominates in AI and machine learning. PyTorch, NumPy, the entire ML ecosystem runs on Python. And as AI becomes more embedded in our workflows, being fluent in the language AI speaks best makes sense.

The Network Effect Is Real

Guido also talked about how Python spread. Once a language gains foothold in a field, network effects take over. People building new tools say “let’s do that in Python so we can leverage what’s already there.”

This is exactly what happened with scientific computing, then machine learning, and now AI. The ecosystem compounds.

For DevOps, this matters. Every major cloud provider has Python SDKs. Ansible is Python. Pulumi supports Python. The AI tools we’re integrating into our pipelines are Python-first.

When I Would Still Reach For Go

Go still has its place. If I need to build a single self-contained CLI tool that I want to distribute as one binary, Go is perfect for that.

Go’s strengths:

  • Fast compilation to single executables
  • No runtime dependencies
  • Excellent for infrastructure tools

But that’s a specific use case. For daily DevOps work, scripting, APIs, automation, integrations with AI tools, Python wins every time.

My Final Answer

I’m done oscillating. Python is my primary language.

Go knowledge isn’t wasted. I can read Kubernetes source code and debug cloud-native tools when I need to. But for building solutions day-to-day, Python is the answer.

Guido nailed it: “AIs will learn to work with whatever language works well for humans.”

Python was designed for humans. Now it’s designed for the future too.