Six charts revealing computer developers’ use of AI

COMPUTER developers are among the professionals most likely to use artificial intelligence (AI) in their day-to-day professions. As AI gains more ground globally, it is now expedient to analyse its use among various professional sects and divisions.

The ‘Artificial Intelligence Index Report 2024’ by the Stanford Institute for Human-centered AI contains a survey on developers’ AI usage. Here are some of the study’s findings, which included responses from over 90,000 developers.

The most popular AI developer tools among professional developers are Github’s Copilot, as reported by 56 percent of respondents, followed by Tabnine, voted for by 11.7 percent, and AWS Codewhisperer, chosen by 4.9 percent of the developer population.

Other tools used by developers include Synk Code, Codeium, Whispr AI, and Replit Ghostwriter.

The report further explored the most popular AI search tools among professional developers, and it revealed that CHATGPT was the most voted for, with 83.3 percent of developers voting for it. It was followed by Bing AI, which took second place at 18.8 percent, and Wolframalpha, which took third place at 11.2 percent. Google Bard AI was also voted for at 9.13 percent, with Phind at 3.11 percent.

The report states, “Cloud platforms are crucial elements of the AI ecosystem, providing cloud computing services that allow developers to perform computationally intensive AI work.”

According to the survey, Amazon Web Services (AWS) is the most used cloud platform among professional developers, with 53.1 percent reporting regular use. Microsoft Azure followed at 27.8 percent, with Google Cloud at 24 percent. Firebase was voted at 15.39 percent and Cloudflare at 14.99 percent.

In addition, the report explored the current and future integration of AI in developers’ workflows. A significant majority of respondents, 82.6 percent, regularly use AI for code writing, followed by 48.9 percent for debugging and assistance and 34.4 percent for documentation. While only 23.9 percent currently use AI for code testing, 55.2 percent express interest in adopting AI for this purpose.

When asked about the primary advantages of AI tools in professional development, developers responded with increased productivity at 32.8 percent, accelerated learning at 25.2 percent, and enhanced efficiency at 25 percent. Improve accuracy in coding was also represented by 13 percent, with improved collaboration at 3.75 percent.

Ultimately, more developers trust AI tools than distrust them, with 42.2 percent reporting high or moderate trust in these technologies. In contrast, a smaller proportion, 27.2 percent, express some level of distrust or high distrust in AI tools.

“The AI revolution is no longer just a buzzword; it’s a reality that’s reshaping the way we build software,” said Dr. Raymond Perrault, Director of the Stanford Institute of Human-centred AI. “Developers are leveraging AI to create more efficient, intelligent, and innovative applications at an unprecedented pace.”

“AI is becoming an indispensable tool for developers, enabling them to focus on high-level creative tasks while automating routine and repetitive work,” Dr. Peter Norvig, co-author of the report, added.