Software developers are showing the way forward in the use of generative AI: let’s follow their lead

A macro-survey carried out by the programming Q&A site Stack Overflow among more than 65,000 developers shows that code development professionals are not afraid of AI, and that more than 70% of them use it regularly.

In contrast, barely 12% said they considered AI a threat. Among those who said they used AI, 81% said they did so because it increased productivity, followed, in 62% of cases, by those who said they perceived an improvement in their ability to learn new skills quickly. Increased accuracy was cited as a benefit by 30% of developers, while 43% said they were confident in the accuracy of the tools, and 45% argued that such tools had difficulty handling complex tasks.

The adoption rate of AI by professional developers has increased very rapidly: from 44% in 2023, to 62% in 2024. Some 71% of developers with less than five years experience claimed to have used AI tools, compared to only 49% of those with 20 years or more of experience. In addition, at 82%, ChatGPT usage, is twice that of GitHub Copilot. Among ChatGPT users, 74% say they want to continue using it.

Software development is a complex task, with a very low level of unemployment worldwide (only 4.4%) and an activity in which 80% of professionals have full-time jobs with a median salary of $63,333, compared to 18% of freelancers. If all professions were to undertake technology adoption at least similar to that of the developer collective, the productivity gains and advances for society would be potentially enormous.

Distributed work is further evidence of this: since the COVID-19 pandemic, this has led to more developers valuing flexibility: only 20% have returned to full-time face-to-face work, while 38% work from home full-time and the rest are in some sort of hybrid situation. That’s a lot of people no longer commuting to work, creating traffic jams and pollution day in and day out, and also being able to focus on their work and stay focused on it, in the mythical zone in ways that are potentially much more appropriate, as well as more compatible with issues as relevant as family reconciliation.

So let’s take a leaf out of the developers’ book.

(En español, aquí)