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Discover the Best 15 AI Programming Languages for 2025

Top 15 AI Programming Languages in 2025

Want to get started with AI, but confused about which AI programming languages to choose from? We understand it gets confusing to choose one among the pool of so many languages and platforms. Thus, we have compiled this blog to help you choose the best AI tech for your specific project needs.

You will get a quick decision matrix table at the end to simplify the complexity of AI programming languages and choose the right one for your project requirements.

Let’s dive right into it!

The Role of Programming Languages in AI

First thing, we need to understand what exactly AI models are, before understanding the role played by programming languages in AI.

Generally speaking, AI models or artificial intelligence models are programs that detect specific patterns using a collection of data sets, and in return, they send the best reasonable output as per our commands. 

Here, to give commands in a way that the computer machines understand, programming languages come into play. When we are developing an AI model, we need to give the computer very clear instructions. AI Programming languages act as a medium allowing the model to communicate between the computer and the AI model. 

Different AI programming languages in practice directly affect things like how quickly, how well, and how easily you can build an AI system.

For example, Python is loved by a lot of developers, but it’s not as powerful in terms of performance as compared to C++. In fact, libraries like TensorFlow or NumPy are made by the C++ programming language. 

Not to mention, the correct choice of programming language for your project directly impacts model efficiency, development speed, maintainability, and scalability. 

Overview of Top AI Programming Languages

Here are the current top AI programming languages that are being used by top tech companies globally in 2025, to build robust AI systems. 

Note: The AI programming languages mentioned below are based on their popularity and our recommendation from top to bottom. 

 

#1 – Python – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1991
History Developed by Guido van Rossum as an easy-to-read, high-level scripting language
Famously Used By  Google, Facebook, OpenAI, Netflix, Dropbox, Microsoft, Spotify, Amazon
Features Interpreted, dynamically typed, and high-level

– Simple syntax and large standard library

– Extensive ecosystem for data science, AI, web, and automation

– Great community and third-party library support

Why for AI – Dominant programming language for fields like AI research and development

– Offers huge collection of libraries: TensorFlow, PyTorch, scikit-learn, Keras, etc.

– Easy to prototype deep learning models 

– Allows quick deploy of AI models 

Best Frameworks/Libraries TensorFlow, PyTorch, Keras – Deep learning

scikit-learn – Traditional ML

NLTK, spaCy, Transformers – NLP

Pandas, NumPy, Matplotlib – Data processing

Pros – Easiest entry point for AI

– Strong ecosystem and support

– Great for both research and production

Cons – Slower than compiled languages

– Not ideal for memory- or CPU-intensive real-time systems

Best Sources to Learn Python.org

Fast.ai

DeepLearning.ai (Coursera)

– Kaggle Courses

 

#2 – JavaScript AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1995
History Created by Brendan Eich at Netscape; originally designed for interactive web content
Famously Used By  Google, Netflix, PayPal, Airbnb, Adobe (primarily for web and browser-based AI)
Features – Lightweight and interpreted  programming language with frist-class functions

Dynamically typed, runs in browsers and Node.js

– Prototype-based, multi-paradigm, single-threaded, dynamic language

– Event-driven and asynchronous by design

– Powers both frontend and backend (with Node.js)

Why for AI – Ideal for browser-based AI

– Interactive ML models, 

– Fits suitable for AI in UI/UX programming

– Supports real-time visualization, chatbots, and in-browser inference

– Fast-growing ecosystem and rapid support available from community

Best Frameworks/Libraries TensorFlow.js – Deep learning in the browser

Brain.js – Neural networks

ml5.js – Easy-to-use high-level AI API built on TensorFlow.js

Pros – Excellent for real-time AI apps on the web

– Easy deployment via web browser

– Good for AI-driven UI/UX

Cons – Not suitable for large model training

– Slower than native languages for heavy computation

Best Sources to Learn – TensorFlow.js Docs

ml5.js Docs

JavaScript.info

 

#3 – Java – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1995
History Currenlty Oracle owned, it was developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems
Used by Companies IBM, Twitter, Amazon, LinkedIn, Google (for Android and enterprise systems), Salesforce
Features – Compiled, statically typed, object-oriented

– Runs on the JVM (Java Virtual Machine)

– Known for portability (“write once, run anywhere”) and performance

Why for AI – Suitable for enterprise-level AI solutions 

– Capable of handling big data ecosystems (e.g., Apache Hadoop, Apache Spark with Java APIs)

– Strong support for multi-threading, scalability, and performance

– Used in robotics, IoT, and financial AI systems

Best Frameworks/Libraries – Deep Java Library (DJL) – Native deep learning library for Java

– Weka – Popular for classic machine learning algorithms

– Deeplearning4j (DL4J) – Distributed deep learning on JVM

– Neuroph, MOA – Lightweight frameworks for neural networks and stream data analysis

Pros – Good for large-scale enterprise AI applications

– Strong typing and maintainability

– Easy integration with big data tools and backend APIs

Cons – Verbose syntax compared to Python

– Fewer AI-specific libraries and community support than Python

– Slower experimentation cycles

Best Sources to Learn – Deep Java Library (DJL) Docs

– Deeplearning4j Quickstart

– Weka Official Site

Java AI with DL4J – YouTube (Amigoscode)

Oracle Java Tutorials

#4 – C++

 

Category Details
Launched In 1985
History Developed by Bjarne Stroustrup as an extension of C with object-oriented features
Famously Used By  NVIDIA, Intel, Tesla, Adobe, Microsoft, IBM
Features – Compiled, statically typed

– object-oriented

– Supports low-level memory control

– Multi-threading and real-time performance capabilities

– Used to build AI libraries themselves

Why for AI – Common in AI engines, robotics

– Embedded AI, and performance-critical systems

– Core of Python-based AI libraries like PyTorch and TensorFlow

Best Frameworks/Libraries – Dlib, Shark ML, FANN – Traditional ML

– OpenCV – Computer vision

– TensorRT, ONNX Runtime – Model inference at scale

Pros – High speed and efficiency

– Suitable for real-time AI and edge deployments

Cons – Verbose syntax

– Slower development speed compared to Python

Best Sources to Learn – Cplusplus.com

– OpenCV Docs

freeCodeCamp C++ for AI (YouTube)

 

#5 – R – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1993
History Developed by Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman in New Zealand; derived from the S language, aimed at statistical computing and graphics
Famously Used By  Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Genentech, Bank of America (especially in biostatistics, finance, academia, and data science)
Features Interpreted, dynamically typed, designed for statistical analysis

– Excellent data visualization (ggplot2, lattice)

– Functional programming support

– Rich ecosystem for data cleaning, exploratory data analysis, and model building

Why for AI – Powerful for statistical machine learning, predictive modeling, and NLP

– Frequently used in bioinformatics, finance, and social sciences AI research

– Strong in data preprocessing and model explainability

Best Frameworks/Libraries caret, mlr3 – Unified interfaces for ML

randomForest, xgboost, e1071 (SVM) – Classical ML

keras, tensorflow – Deep learning (via R interfaces)

tm, quanteda – NLP

shiny – AI-driven web apps

Pros – Best suited for statistical AI and model diagnostics

– Strong visualization and reporting tools

– Popular in academic research and healthcare AI

Cons – Slower than compiled languages

– Less preferred for deep learning or production AI pipelines compared to Python

Best Sources to Learn – R for Data Science (Book)

– CRAN Machine Learning View

– DataCamp ML with R Track

– KDnuggets R Tutorials

 

#6 – Go (Golang) – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 2009
History Developed at Google by Robert Griesemer, Rob Pike, and Ken Thompson to simplify system-level programming with built-in support for concurrency, performance, and simplicity
Famously Used By  Google, Uber, Dropbox, Twitch, SendGrid, Dailymotion (infrastructure, backend AI services, real-time systems)
Features Statically typed, compiled, and concurrent programming language

Fast compilation and execution, close to C/C++ performance

– Built-in support for goroutines and channels for concurrency

Simple syntax and easy maintainability

– Strong standard library and excellent tooling (e.g., go fmt, go test, go run)

– Native support for networked and distributed applications

– Easily deployable as a single binary with no external dependencies

Why for AI – Gaining popularity in production AI microservices (e.g., model serving, data APIs, AI monitoring tools)

– Used to build high-performance concurrent AI services (e.g., inference APIs, logging pipelines)

– Great for edge AI and lightweight IoT AI apps where speed, size, and concurrency matter

– Used with external AI models via gRPC, REST APIs, or bindings with C/C++ libraries

– Growing ecosystem for machine learning in production, though not a core language for model training

Best Frameworks/Libraries Gorgonia – For building and training neural networks in Go

GoLearn – Traditional machine learning algorithms (classification, clustering, regression)

Fuego, Evoli, HeatonML – Lightweight or experimental AI tools

TensorFlow Go – Go bindings for TensorFlow inference (limited training support)

Pros – Fast, compiled, and highly concurrent

– Excellent for building scalable AI services and APIs

– Low memory footprint—suitable for edge computing

– Easy deployment and maintenance

Cons Limited high-level AI libraries compared to Python

– Not well-suited for deep learning model development or GPU-heavy training

– Less community support for AI-specific use cases

Best Sources to Learn Gorgonia Documentation

GoLearn GitHub Repo

Official Go Tour

Go for AI – Practical AI Microservices (YouTube)

Go Programming Language Book (Alan A. A. Donovan, Brian Kernighan)

 

#7 – Julia – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 2012
History Developed by Jeff Bezanson, Alan Edelman, Stefan Karpinski, and Viral B. Shah at MIT with the goal of combining the speed of C with the usability of Python, R, and MATLAB
Famously Used By  NASA, Aviva, BlackRock, Moderna, IBM, Capital One, and research labs in scientific computing, finance, and pharmaceuticals
Features Compiled, high-performance, dynamically typed

– Just-In-Time (JIT) compilation via LLVM for C-like speed

– Multiple dispatch and strong numerical computing support

– Native support for parallel and distributed computing

– Built for scientific, numerical, and mathematical computing

– Syntax similar to MATLAB/Python, but optimized for performance-heavy tasks

Why for AI – Ideal for AI in scientific computing, finance, and physics

– Great for large-scale numerical simulations, differentiable programming, and mathematical modeling

– Faster than Python in many numeric AI workloads due to JIT and static type inference

– Used in machine learning research, physics-informed neural networks, and AI for scientific modeling

– Enables model training and optimization natively, without switching between dev and deployment languages

Best Frameworks/Libraries Flux.jl – The most popular deep learning framework in Julia

MLJ.jl – Interface to many traditional ML models (similar to Scikit-learn)

Knet.jl – High-performance deep learning

DifferentialEquations.jl + SciML – For scientific machine learning

Zygote.jl – Automatic differentiation

Metalhead.jl – Pretrained vision models

Pros Performance near C, with high-level syntax

– Native GPU support (e.g., with CUDA.jl)

– Great for researchers, scientists, and academic AI

– Smooth integration with Python, C, R, and even MATLAB

– Strong support for custom AI models, especially where differential equations are involved

Cons Smaller ecosystem than Python or R

– Less mature in production environments

– Fewer resources, libraries, and community support for web/backend AI use cases

Best Sources to Learn JuliaAcademy – Free Courses by Julia Computing

Flux.jl Documentation

– MLJ.jl Docs

– Official Julia Documentation

Deep Learning with Flux – GitHub

 

#8 – Swift – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 2014
History Developed by Apple Inc. as a modern, safer, and faster replacement for Objective-C
Famously Used By  Apple, IBM, Lyft, Airbnb (primarily for iOS/macOS app development, including AI-powered apps)
Features Compiled, type-safe, and memory-safe

– Modern syntax, fast execution, and strong integration with Apple ecosystem

– Supports protocol-oriented and functional programming

– Native support for Swift Playgrounds and Xcode tools

– Excellent for mobile AI development

Why for AI – First-class support for on-device AI with Core ML and Create ML

– Ideal for building AI-powered iOS/macOS apps (e.g., face recognition, NLP, personalization)

– Supports model conversion from TensorFlow/PyTorch via Core ML Tools

– Great for real-time, privacy-focused AI experiences

Best Frameworks/Libraries Core ML – Apple’s native machine learning framework

Create ML – No-code/low-code model training for Swift apps

TensorFlow Swift (experimental) – Swift bindings for deep learning

BNNS, MPS, Turi Create (via Python integration)

Pros – High performance and optimized for Apple silicon

– Easy integration with iOS apps

– Excellent tools for on-device inference and ML personalization

Cons – Limited outside the Apple ecosystem

– Smaller AI community and fewer libraries compared to Python

Best Sources to Learn Apple Core ML Official Docs

Swift.org

– Hacking with Swift – Core ML

Apple Create ML Docs

 

#9 – Rust – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 2010
History Developed by Graydon Hoare at Mozilla to provide a safe, concurrent, and fast systems programming language
Used by Companies Dropbox, Amazon, Mozilla, Microsoft, OpenAI (for safety-critical and high-performance systems)
Features Compiled, statically typed, memory-safe (no garbage collector)

– Focus on performance, safety, and concurrency

– Zero-cost abstractions

– Strong support for multithreading

Modern syntax with tooling like cargo, clippy, and rust-analyzer

Why for AI – Ideal for safe and efficient AI infrastructure, e.g., inference engines, embedded AI, and deployment

– Used in low-latency AI systems, edge computing, and WASM-based ML

– Often used to build backends for AI tools and integrate with C++/Python AI models

– Growing interest due to performance and predictable memory usage

Best Frameworks/Libraries tch-rs – Rust bindings for PyTorch

burn – Modern, modular deep learning framework

ndarray, linfa – For numerical computing and traditional ML

autodiff, rustlearn, leaf (archived)

Pros – Extremely fast and memory efficient

– Guarantees thread safety at compile time

– Suitable for embedded, real-time, and AI in production environments

Cons – Steep learning curve

– Smaller ecosystem for AI/ML

– Limited high-level libraries for deep learning and data preprocessing

Best Sources to Learn – The Rust Programming Language Book

Burn Docs

tch-rs GitHub

Linfa Docs

– Rust by Example

 

#10 – Scala – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 2004
History Developed by Martin Odersky to combine functional and object-oriented programming on the Java Virtual Machine (JVM)
Famously Used By  Twitter, LinkedIn, Netflix, Airbnb, Coursera (especially in big data and distributed AI processing environments)
Features Compiled, statically typed, runs on the JVM

– Supports both object-oriented and functional paradigms

– High compatibility with Java libraries

– Strong support for concurrency and immutability

– Expressive syntax for math-heavy logic

Why for AI – Ideal for big data + AI projects using Apache Spark MLlib, which is natively written in Scala

– Frequently used for streaming AI, recommendation engines, and ETL pipelines

– Well-suited for batch training and parallel data processing at scale

– Combines functional purity with strong typing, making it good for complex AI pipelines

Best Frameworks/Libraries Apache Spark MLlib – Scalable machine learning on big data

Breeze – Numerical processing and linear algebra

DeepLearning.scala – Type-safe deep learning DSL

ND4S – N-Dimensional arrays for Scala (uses ND4J backend)

Pros – Powerful for scalable AI on distributed systems

– Seamless integration with Java ecosystem

– Functional + OOP makes code expressive and clean

Cons – Steeper learning curve than Java

– Less suitable for experimental or rapid AI prototyping

– Smaller AI community than Python

Best Sources to Learn Apache Spark MLlib Guide

Breeze Docs

DeepLearning.scala GitHub

– Scala Documentation

Scala Exercises

 

#11 – Haskell – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1990
History Designed by a committee of academics as a pure functional programming language, named after logician Haskell Curry
Famously Used By  Facebook, Standard Chartered, AT&T, GitHub (mostly for research, compilers, and high-assurance systems; less common in mainstream AI production)
Features Purely functional, statically typed, with lazy evaluation

– Powerful type system and type inference

– Supports monads, immutability, and higher-order functions

– Emphasizes mathematical correctness and referential transparency

– Concise, expressive syntax

Why for AI – Excellent for symbolic AI, logical inference, and DSLs for AI modeling

– Ideal for AI research, especially in areas like probabilistic programming and knowledge representation

– Useful in theoretical AI, genetic programming, and formal verification

– Promotes clean and modular code, which helps with AI model correctness

Best Frameworks/Libraries HLearn – Machine learning in Haskell

AI-haskell – Neural networks and NLP experiments

Hoogλearn – Experimental deep learning

LambdaNet, BayesStack, hBayes – Probabilistic models and inference tools

Pros – Ideal for academic AI, theoretical models, and symbolic reasoning

– Promotes safe, bug-free code

– High expressiveness and mathematical clarity

Cons – Steep learning curve

– Small AI ecosystem and minimal deep learning support

– Not suitable for mainstream or production-ready AI solutions

Best Sources to Learn Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!

– Haskell.org Documentation

Awesome Haskell

Haskell for AI GitHub Repos

School of Haskell

 

#12 – Lisp – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1958
History Created by John McCarthy at MIT; it is the second-oldest high-level programming language, designed specifically for symbolic computation and AI research
Famously Used By  Historically used by MIT AI Lab, NASA, and early AI companies (e.g., Symbolics); now mostly in academic, research, and niche AI fields
Features Dynamically typed, interpreted, with homoiconicity (code as data)

– Powerful macro system

– Ideal for recursive, symbolic, and rule-based logic

– High support for rapid prototyping and exploratory programming

– Minimal syntax and extensibility

Why for AI – One of the first languages designed for AI

– Excellent for symbolic AI, expert systems, theorem proving, rule engines, and natural language processing

– Allows modifying or generating code at runtime, making it extremely flexible for AI researchers

– Still used in AI education, logic-based AI, and concept modeling

Best Frameworks/Libraries CLIPS (inspired by Lisp) – Expert system shell

AIMA Lisp Code – From “Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach”

ACL2, CLOS (Common Lisp Object System)

OpenCog, BioBIKE, Screamer – Symbolic/logic AI

Pros – Extremely flexible and highly expressive

– Great for symbolic reasoning and custom rule-based AI systems

– Supports metaprogramming and AI domain-specific languages

Cons – Not suited for modern deep learning or GPU-heavy AI

– Smaller community and ecosystem today

– Limited industry adoption in current AI projects

Best Sources to Learn – Practical Common Lisp (Book)

– Common Lisp HyperSpec

AIMA Lisp Codebase

Land of Lisp (Book)

Awesome Lisp

 

#13 – Prolog – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1972
History Created by Alain Colmerauer and Robert Kowalski in France and the UK; designed for logic programming and automated reasoning
Famously Used By  Early AI labs, academic institutions, IBM, NASA; still used in rule engines, expert systems, and natural language understanding
Features Declarative logic programming language

– Based on facts, rules, and queries

– Built-in support for pattern matching and backtracking

– High abstraction for symbolic reasoning

Why for AI – Ideal for symbolic AI, knowledge representation, and automated inference

– Used in expert systems, chatbots, theorem provers, and rule-based reasoning

Best Frameworks/Libraries SWI-Prolog – Most popular open-source Prolog implementation

GNU Prolog, SICStus Prolog, TuProlog

ProbLog, Logtalk – Probabilistic and object-oriented extensions

Pros – Excellent for rule-based AI

Compact and human-readable knowledge bases

– Automatic goal-directed search via inference

Cons – Not suitable for deep learning or numeric-heavy AI

– Difficult to integrate with modern systems

– Steep learning curve for non-logical thinkers

Best Sources to Learn SWI-Prolog Official Docs

Learn Prolog Now!

– The Art of Prolog (Book)

 

#14 – MATLAB – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1984
History Developed by MathWorks for matrix-based engineering, numerical computing, and simulations
Famously Used By  NASA, Boeing, Siemens, Intel, Qualcomm, financial institutions, automotive & aerospace industries
Features High-level interpreted language focused on matrix and numerical computation

– Rich visualization tools

– Powerful toolboxes (e.g., Signal, Image, Control Systems)

– GUI development & simulations

Why for AI – Excellent for prototype AI systems, mathematical modeling, and control systems

– Used in signal processing AI, image processing, and academic AI simulations

– Toolboxes for machine learning, reinforcement learning, and deep learning available

Best Frameworks/Libraries Statistics and Machine Learning Toolbox

Deep Learning Toolbox

Reinforcement Learning Toolbox

Computer Vision Toolbox, Text Analytics Toolbox

Pros – Fast prototyping for engineering AI

– Powerful built-in algorithms

– Excellent for education, research, and simulation-heavy AI

Cons Commercial license (expensive)

– Less suitable for large-scale production AI systems

– Smaller AI developer community vs. Python

Best Sources to Learn – MATLAB AI Docs

– MathWorks Deep Learning Tutorials

Coursera: AI with MATLAB

 

#15 – Shell/Bash – AI Programming Languages

 

Category Details
Launched In 1989 (GNU Bash)
History GNU Bash was developed by Brian Fox for the GNU Project; used as a command-line interface and scripting language for Unix/Linux systems
Famously Used By  All Linux-using organizations (Google, AWS, NASA, Red Hat, etc.) for automation, pipeline scripting, and deployment of AI/ML tools
Features Command-line scripting for file operations, automation, data pipelines

– Supports pipes, filters, text processing, and batch processing

– Integrates with tools like Python, R, Docker, SLURM, etc.

Why for AI – Commonly used to automate AI workflows: data preprocessing, model training orchestration, job scheduling on clusters

– Powers ML DevOps, data ingestion, log processing

– Supports shell-based interaction with AI model APIs, command-line tools, and Dockerized AI environments

Best Frameworks/Libraries – Not applicable (uses system tools and commands)

– Frequently integrates with Python scripts, CLI AI tools, Docker, Git, SSH, SLURM, and cronjobs

Pros – Lightweight and portable

Critical for automation and DevOps in AI projects

– Helps glue together AI tools and processes

Cons – Not used for actual model development

– Limited programming constructs (no native ML/AI libraries)

– Prone to silent errors if not written carefully

Best Sources to Learn – GNU Bash Manual

LinuxCommand.org

– Shell Scripting Tutorial (GeeksforGeeks)

Comparing AI Programming Languages: Decision Matrix

TO help you get started quickly, here is a concise decision matrix table helping you find the right AI programming language for your next project.

 

Language AI Focus Area Strengths Limitations Best For
Python General AI, ML, DL, NLP Rich libraries, easy syntax, huge community Slower runtime Research, production AI, prototyping
JavaScript In-browser AI, UI/UX AI Web-native, real-time interaction Not for heavy model training Web-based AI apps, demos
Java Enterprise AI, ML pipelines Scalable, portable, stable Verbose, slower prototyping Production-grade AI, backend systems
C++ Embedded AI, real-time systems Fast, memory-efficient Complex syntax, slower development Edge AI, robotics, performance-critical AI
R Statistical AI, analytics Excellent for stats, data viz Less suited for DL, smaller ecosystem Academia, healthcare, finance AI
Go AI microservices, backend infra Fast, simple, good concurrency Limited ML libraries Production APIs, real-time AI infrastructure
Julia Scientific AI, numerical modeling Near-C speed, math-first design Small community Scientific research, simulation AI
Swift On-device/mobile AI (iOS/macOS) Core ML integration, fast execution Apple ecosystem only iOS AI apps, privacy-preserving AI
Rust Safe systems AI, embedded inference Memory-safe, fast, thread-safe Steep learning curve AI at the edge, backend model inference
Scala Distributed AI, big data ML Functional + OOP, Spark ML support Verbose, smaller AI community Scalable ML pipelines (Spark, Kafka)
Haskell Symbolic AI, theorem proving Pure functional, clean abstractions Not for DL, small ecosystem Research, logic-based AI
Lisp Symbolic/logic AI, DSLs Code-as-data, meta-programming Dated syntax, niche usage Expert systems, AI language modeling
Prolog Rule-based/symbolic AI Built-in inference & logic handling Not suitable for ML/DL Knowledge-based AI, chatbots, theorem provers
MATLAB Academic/engineering AI Toolboxes, visualization, simulations Paid, not for scale AI in engineering, simulations, control systems
Shell/Bash AI automation & DevOps Lightweight, great for scripting Not for AI logic or modeling Orchestrating AI workflows, data prep pipelines

 

Selecting the Right AI Programming Languages for Your AI Project

Selecting the right AI programming language varies based on your project needs. If the chosen AI programming language is right, it will significantly help you avoid complexity, development delays, and scalability scope issues in the future. Thus, here is a quick guide for what AI programming language suits best for different types of AI projects. 

1. Define the AI Problem Type

Different types of AI problems require different capabilities, such as:

AI Category Language Fit Reason
Machine Learning (ML) Python, R, Java, Julia Python has rich ML libraries; R is strong in statistical modeling; Java/Julia for performance
Deep Learning (DL) Python, Julia, C++, Swift Python (TensorFlow, PyTorch); Julia for numeric performance; C++/Swift for deployment
Natural Language Processing (NLP) Python, Java, Lisp Python for HuggingFace/Transformers; Java for scalable NLP; Lisp for symbolic NLP
Computer Vision Python, C++, MATLAB Python (OpenCV, DL); C++ for embedded vision; MATLAB for academic/engineering use
Symbolic/Logic AI Prolog, Lisp, Haskell Designed for rule-based inference, symbolic reasoning
AI for Edge Devices C++, Rust, Go, Swift Performance, low memory footprint, and native compilation are key
AI on the Web JavaScript, Python (via backend) TensorFlow.js, Brain.js for web AI; Python for backend APIs
AI in Production Systems Java, Scala, Go, Rust Reliability, concurrency, and scalability

 

2. Factors to Consider: Project Scale, Performance Needs, and Team Expertise

Criterion Considerations Best-Fit Languages
Performance Need for speed, low-latency inference, hardware acceleration (e.g., C++, Rust, Julia) C++, Rust, Julia
Prototyping Speed Rapid development, experimentation, ease of syntax Python, R, Lisp
Ecosystem Support Availability of AI frameworks, libraries, community, and tooling Python, Java
Ease of Learning Developer productivity, onboarding new team members Python, JavaScript, Swift
Scalability Suitability for large systems, distributed AI workflows Java, Scala, Go
Cross-Platform Deployment Ability to run on mobile, cloud, edge, and different OS environments C++, Swift, Rust, Go
Academic Research Numerical fidelity, reproducibility, and publishing Julia, MATLAB, Haskell
Enterprise Integration Integrating AI into enterprise-grade applications and APIs Java, Scala, Python
On-device AI For mobile apps and local inference Swift, Java (Android), C++

 

Future Trends in AI Programming Languages

top 15 ai programming languages - future trends in 2025

Based on the Developer Survey 2025, here are our 5 hot future trends that will shape the upcoming AI programming language sector in the near future. 

#Trend 1: Python will keep on dominating the AI ecosystem

There have been many discussions about the future of Python. One of the biggest arguments is “If Python is to be kept as the de facto AI programming language for backend, we would require 500x more computing power and memory to get the same result as compared to other languages.” 

While this is true in terms of Python’s lack of performance compared to C++ or Rust, when it comes to performance boosting, internal DSA teams at companies can always rewrite the code into Scala later. 

Python will continue ruling in coming future because it’s simple, readable, and supports an extensive ecosystem of libraries such as TensorFlow, PyTorch, Scikit-learn, and Keras.

#Trend 2: C++ will still rule when it comes to Performance

While many developers have already shifted to Python-based AI programming languages, many companies still prefer C++ due to its high performance and low-level control possibilities. 

As per Reddit forums, C++ rules the niche in AI for robotics, game development, electronics, and IoT-based programming. C++ will continue to be embraced in the future because of its capability to commercialize AI, which won’t be possible with famous AI programming languages such as Python. 

Not to mention, in reality, most Python libraries are written in C++ or C, like TensorFlow or NumPy; otherwise, ML programs would be quite slow. They just provide a Python interface, showcasing the everlasting supremacy of C++ as an AI programming language.

#Trend 3: R for Data Analytics and Statistical AI

R offers packages with specific functions for statistical modeling, such as mixed effects models, which saves a lot of time while also giving accurate data stats. People always compare Python and R for data analytics to explain why to choose R over Python. The simple answer is, the simple functions are already inbuilt in R, while more complex functions can be integrated with the help of community packages, which ultimately saves a bulk of time. 

There are more options in the R statistical and ML packages, which are hard-coded in the Python versions. Compared to R, Python requires more time to code the same function with the R programming language.

# Trend 4: Growing Influence of Go and Rust in AI Programming Languages

Rust and Go are very different approaches to AI programming languages compared to others. For example,  Rust highly focuses on web safety and performance, whereas GO is more oriented towards principles of simplicity, and rapid development and deployment of applications 

Although both Rust and Go lack the extensive support as we see in the case of Python, there is surely a scope of ongoing support, as developers really like the simplicity and performance-oriented approach of these languages compared to Python. 

Essential Libraries and Frameworks for AI Development

 

Category Library/Framework Language Purpose
Deep Learning TensorFlow Python, C++ Training & deploying DL models such as
ChatGPT or DeepSeek
PyTorch Python, C++ Research-oriented deep learning
Keras Python High-level API for TensorFlow
MXNet Python, Scala Scalable DL (used by AWS)
Machine Learning Scikit-learn Python Classical ML algorithms & preprocessing
XGBoost Python, R, C++ Gradient boosting for tabular data
LightGBM Python, R Fast gradient boosting
CatBoost Python, R Boosting with categorical support
NLP HuggingFace Transformers Python Pre-trained NLP models (BERT, GPT, etc.)
for Genertaive AI 
spaCy Python Industrial NLP pipelines
NLTK Python NLP for academia and learning
Computer Vision OpenCV C++, Python Image & video processing
Detectron2 Python Object detection (by Facebook)
Reinforcement Learning RLlib Python Scalable RL (from Ray)
Stable Baselines3 Python Standard RL algorithms
Data Handling Pandas Python Data manipulation and analysis
NumPy Python Numerical computing
Dask Python Scalable dataframes for large datasets
Visualization Matplotlib Python 2D plotting
Seaborn Python Statistical data visualization
Plotly Python, JS Interactive visualizations
Model Deployment ONNX Python, C++ Cross-platform model exchange format
TensorFlow Serving Python, C++ Model serving system
TorchScript Python, C++ Exporting PyTorch models

Conclusion and Final Recommendations

Hope you liked our extensive blog on the top AI programming languages in 2025. 

Resources for Learning AI Programming Languages

There are a lot of resources to learn AI Programming Languages, both paid and free. Here are some sources we suggest you can try to get started with AI programming. 

To get more technical, these other courses will introduce the basics of machine learning:

FAQs

What programming languages are best for AI?

There are many AI programming languages, but Python, JavaScript, and C++ are considered the best languages for building scalable AI solutions. 

Is AI coded in Python?

Yes, AI can be coded in Python. In fact Python is a very popular language for building AI systems. It’s supported by many AI-powered libraries such as TensorFlow, Pytorch, and more to help in rapid development.  

Is C++ or Python better for AI?

C++ is best for tasks requiring performance, whereas Python is best suited for rapid development due to its extensive support. C++ is popular for building native like AI systems in IoT, gaming, electronics, etc, while Python is used for web-based AI-powered systems. Also, C++ is more powerful in terms of performance than Python for AI-based systems. 

Is AI better with Python or Java?

Both are good choices. Choose Python if you want quick development. While Java takes time, it is also more capable in terms of performance and scalability than Python. 

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