Join us as we take a look at a milestone for open-source AI - Ultralytics ranks #5 in GitHub’s Octoverse 2024 with its YOLO models and global development community.
We’re thrilled to share a major milestone for Ultralytics and our Vision AI community. In GitHub’s Octoverse 2024 report, our open-source repository was ranked #5 globally among all open-source and public projects attracting the most first-time contributors.
This recognition places us alongside impactful projects like Microsoft’s VS Code, Flutter, and LangChain - and ahead of some of the largest and most influential organizations in tech. It’s more than a badge of honor, it’s a powerful reflection of the global developer community’s trust in our tools, mission, and vision.
Ultralytics has always believed in building world-class AI that’s open, accessible, and driven by real-world needs. From Ultralytics YOLO models to our training workflows, documentation, and deployment tools, every part of Ultralytics is shaped by a community of contributors spanning students, researchers, startups, and developers around the world. This milestone validates our community-first approach to AI and computer vision and inspires us to keep raising the bar.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why this milestone matters - not just for Ultralytics and our community but for the future of open-source AI and computer vision.
Ultralytics’ emerging as one of GitHub’s top open-source destinations for first-time contributors is more than just an exciting achievement - it’s a direct reflection of our mission. We’re committed to making AI not only state-of-the-art but also open, understandable, and accessible to developers everywhere.
According to GitHub’s Octoverse 2024 report, over 1.4 million developers made their first open source contribution last year. That surge isn't just a trend, it's a powerful signal.
First-time contributions are some of the clearest indicators of trust, usability, and real community impact. When developers choose Ultralytics as the place to take that first step, it means they see our ecosystem as a place they can understand, contribute to, and grow with.
Being ranked among the top five projects globally reinforces that beyond building cutting-edge tools, we're helping shape the future of AI by welcoming and empowering the next generation of developers and researchers.
It's a reminder that open innovation doesn't scale because it's fast or flashy - it scales because it's shared. Simply put, the fuel to our momentum is a growing, global community that’s building together.
Next, let’s take a step back and see how broader trends in AI and open source are shaping developer activity and how Ultralytics fits into that picture.
The AI boom slowly started gaining traction in the late 2010s, but in recent years, it’s been louder than ever before - and it's transforming how developers build. In 2024 alone, GitHub recorded a 98% year-over-year growth in generative AI projects and nearly 1 billion contributions to public and open-source repositories. These numbers showcase a substantial shift in how global communities are experimenting, shipping, and scaling software.
At the heart of this movement is Python. In 2024, it officially became the most-used programming language on GitHub, overtaking JavaScript (a language traditionally used to build websites and web apps) for the first time in over a decade. This change is due to the growing influence of fields like machine learning, data science, and AI, where Python is the default language for many developers and researchers.
For instance, Jupyter Notebooks, a tool commonly used for writing and running Python code alongside data visualizations and explanations, saw a 92% increase in usage. This growth is a direct result of hands-on experimentation, data analysis, and AI model development becoming a core part of modern software workflows, not just in research but in production settings as well.
For Ultralytics, this trend aligns closely with how our community builds. Open-source Ultralytics YOLO models sit at the intersection of AI accessibility and real-world utility. From edge devices in smart cities to vision systems in robotics and manufacturing, developers around the world are choosing our tools not just for performance but because they’re easy to understand, adaptable to different needs, and built with a focus on reliability.
As the global developer ecosystem continues to expand, we’re seeing new contributors, use cases, and innovations pop up every day. Whether it’s students experimenting in Jupyter Notebooks, teams integrating YOLO into production systems, or first-time contributors exploring open source AI, it’s a collective effort that is reimagining how computer vision tools are built and used.
Now that we’ve explored the recent growth in AI projects, let’s take a moment to discuss the remarkable contributions from the Ultralytics GitHub community.
From day one, Ultralytics has been built in the open, shaped by the invaluable feedback, contributions, and collaboration of developers around the world. What started as a vision from our founder & CEO, Glenn Jocher, has evolved into a vibrant, global community.
We would like to share a heartfelt thank you to everyone who’s been a part of this journey - whether through contributing code, offering feedback, testing features, or leaving a star on Github. Ultralytics wouldn’t be what it is today without you.
As Glenn Jocher puts it, “Open-source AI has been the foundation of Ultralytics from the start. Every contribution helps us push the limits of AI, and together, we’re building something that can truly change the world.”
Here’s a quick glimpse at the impact of the Ultralytics GitHub Community:
Ultimately, every contribution in the open-source AI community drives growth and strengthens global collaboration. This is crucial for Ultralytics and part of a larger movement supporting open-source AI worldwide.
Interestingly, GitHub’s 2024 Open Source Survey reveals that the open-source space is becoming increasingly diverse, with 30% of respondents now identifying as minorities - a 43% increase from the previous survey. As the global developer community continues to expand, this diversity is expected to grow even further, especially in fast-developing regions like India, which is on track to become the largest developer community by 2028, as well as Brazil and Nigeria.
Sometimes, numbers can be hard to visualize in terms of their real-world impact. However, when you take a look at how Ultralytics YOLO models are being applied across various industries, the impact of open-source AI is clear.
Ultralytics YOLO models are redefining fields like wildlife conservation, safety systems, and smart cities. For example, in wildlife conservation, drones powered by YOLO can be used to track endangered species and monitor their environments, giving researchers real-time insights to help protect these animals.
Similarly, in safety systems, YOLO can help with threat detection, allowing for faster responses and better protection in high-risk situations. Meanwhile, in smart cities, YOLO models can be used to manage traffic, monitor public spaces, and improve overall safety by providing up-to-date data from visual inputs.
Recent advancements in computer vision, such as the improvements from Ultralytics YOLOv8 to Ultralytics YOLO11, demonstrate how far the technology has come. YOLO11, in particular, offers faster processing and higher accuracy, making it even more effective for tasks like real-time object detection.
It can be used in autonomous vehicles for obstacle detection, and in healthcare, it can analyze medical images to speed up diagnoses. These real-world applications show that open-source AI models like YOLO can solve real problems and improve the world in meaningful ways.
Ultralytics ranking #5 in GitHub's Octoverse 2024 report for attracting the most first-time contributors is a major milestone, reflecting the growing interest in open-source AI. This recognition, along with the real-world applications of our models across fields from wildlife conservation and safety systems to smart cities, shows how computer vision is being widely adopted.
Open-source projects, like those at Ultralytics, are driven by collaboration and global participation. We’re proud to be part of this movement and remain committed to expanding the accessibility of Vision AI, empowering developers worldwide.
If you’ve never contributed to an open-source project before, now’s the perfect time. Join our global community. Whether you're just starting out or deploying at scale, there’s a place for you here.
Explore our GitHub repository to get involved, check out our licensing options to leverage computer vision solutions, and discover how YOLO models are driving real-world impact in areas like AI in agriculture and Vision AI in healthcare.
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