CONCERNS over the negative impact of GenAI on software developers are misplaced, according to new research today from software development marketplace Deazy. Despite the rapid advancement of GenAI technologies, such as OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude, which have demonstrated remarkable capabilities in code generation, bug fixing, and creative problem-solving, the majority of developers remain confident in their job security.
Two-thirds of developers believe the chances of them being replaced entirely by GenAI are either unlikely (34%), very unlikely (24%) or non-existent (7%). Creativity, intuition and interpretation – reading between the lines – were cited as the most important human qualities that GenAI cannot replicate.
The research raised concerns about the quality of the work completed using GenAI. 52% of developers said that compared to one year ago, up to 20% of their day-to-day duties could be carried out by GenAI. This figure dropped to 40%, however, when asked if GenAI could do those duties to the exact same standard they could.
Despite these concerns, more than half of respondents are excited about GenAI’s potential impact on developers, while the research also found that clients are mostly reasonable regarding expectations of GenAI. Just 29% of developers said there were client expectations that development costs and timescales should now decrease because some work can now be done by GenAI. 89% of developers said they felt Software Development Lifecycles would evolve with the introduction of GenAI.
“GenAI is about making developers’ lives easier, not replacing them entirely,” said Andy Peddar, CEO, Deazy. “Despite the GenAI hype, most organisations are still figuring out how to manage and use AI to the best effect. That’s the aim of our AI Accelerator, helping enterprises identify and prioritise problems, work out how AI can address them, and then build bespoke and scalable AI solutions, tailored to their specific needs.”
The research was undertaken to support the launch of Deazy’s new AI Accelerator, a new service that allows enterprises to quickly unlock the potential of AI in their organisation. The Deazy AI Accelerator has four stages: discover and prioritise, build an MVP, measure ROI and optimise, and bespoke build and scale. At the start of the project, Deazy helps organisations understand the risks, issues, and regulatory impacts. It also offers several off-the-shelf solutions—including healthcare, retail, and recruitment—and can have a custom-built solution in place within months.
“GenAI in development will be more about supporting people,” continued Andy Peddar, Deazy. “But it will fundamentally change how engineers and developers work. It’s easy to see how they could use GenAI to do version one of what they are trying to achieve and then improve and refine it. It’s a time saver and will power them to deliver better work.”
Deazy helps enterprises accelerate digital delivery by bringing the best global development talent to a challenge. Previous research conducted in Q4 2023 revealed that more than one-third of UK CTOs were concerned the business was not agile enough to maximise value from AI.
