More than 75% of developers and IT professionals trust it artificial intelligence (AI) takes on at least one daily professional responsibility, but 39% said they don’t trust AI-generated code, according to Google’s 2024 State of DevOps Report.
Google Cloud’s DevOps Research and Assessment (DORA) team surveyed nearly 3,000 technology professionals globally and AI adoption is growing rapidly in technology stores.
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More than three-quarters (76%) of respondents said they rely on AI for tasks such as write codeInformation summary and code explanation. At least 81% said their company has shifted technological resources toward AI development.
AI adoption is positively correlated with increased flow, productivity, job satisfaction, code quality, and internal documentation quality. At least 67% report that AI is helping them improve their code.
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So far, so good. Overall, the 25% increase in AI adoption in test stores was associated with the following metrics:
- Document quality increased by 7.5%
- Code quality increased by 3.4%
- Code review speed increased by 3.1%
- Approval speed increased by 1.3%
- Code complexity reduced by 1.8%
However, the researchers note that AI adoption is also associated with reduced delivery stability: “AI adoption can negatively impact software delivery performance,” according to Nathen Harvey and Derek DeBellis, both of whom work with DORA.
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Nearly 4 in 10 experts (39%) say they have “little or no confidence” in AI. “This unexpectedly low level of trust suggests to us that AI integration needs to be managed more thoughtfully,” the researchers said. “Teams must carefully evaluate the role of AI in their development process to minimize the downsides.”
The survey found that AI adoption was accompanied by an estimated 1.5% decrease in delivery throughput and an estimated 7.2% decrease in delivery reliability.
“Our data show that improving the development process does not automatically improve software delivery – at least not when properly following the fundamentals of delivery,” the researchers said. successful software, such as small batch sizes and robust testing mechanisms”.
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“AI has a positive impact on many important individual and organizational factors, promoting the conditions for achieving high software delivery performance. However, AI does not appear to be a panacea. ”
These results led the study authors to suggest a potential need for change management practices in era of development based on AI. They urge companies to adopt the following measures:
- “Enable your employees and ease the drudgery of work by orienting your AI adoption strategies toward empowering employees and easing the burden of unwanted tasks.”
- “Establish clear guidelines on the use of AI and address procedural concerns as well as promote open communication about its impact.”
- “Encourage ongoing exploration of AI tools and dedicated time with them for experimentation, and foster trust through hands-on experience.”
The survey also documents the benefits of a platform engineering approach to development and operations. A whopping 89% of respondents who said they use developer platforms in-house reported an average 6% increase in team-level productivity when their organizations had dedicated platform teams.
Researchers say superior developer experience is “the foundation of success”: “A healthy culture can help reduce burnout, increase productivity and increase job satisfaction.” Work. A fast-moving and constant mentality negatively impacts developer happiness.” .”
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“Creating a work environment where your team feels supported, valued, and empowered to contribute is fundamental to achieving high performance,” the researchers concluded.
