The big question for organisations and individuals in 2025 is – Can AI Replace Developers? The straightforward answer to this question is “No”. Artificial Intelligence is the simulation of human thinking in machines. It means that the systems are capable of performing tasks which require human intelligence. In addition to that, the AI-integrated systems have learning power, decision-making and problem-solving skills. AI systems can mimic humans in a way that seems unreal.
But what does this mean for developers? Will the onset of AI make developers obsolete in the future? Let’s find out how AI is impacting the jobs of developers in this article.
What is AI doing in the field of software development?
The evolution of Artificial Intelligence will continue, and there is no saying what it will impact in the future. But even in its present state, AI is impressive when it comes to software development. The role of AI in software development ranges from automation, augmentation and efficiency. Let’s discuss them in detail and learn what AI contributes to the field of development –
Task Automation
Developers can automate software development tasks with the help of AI. Developers do not have to worry about creating code from scratch. AI tools can generate code snippets and assist in troubleshooting and debugging. The automation in the development process brings productivity and efficiency to developers. With AI helping the development process, developers can focus more on complex aspects of development while saving precious time.
Generating Code for Software Development
Artificial intelligence works intelligently when it comes to reading code. For example, if a developer is stuck in programming, they can give a code snippet to LLMs like ChatGPT. In return, AI provides complete code by understanding its patterns. In addition to that, the IDE platform (i.e., integrated development environment) is upgraded with AI features. Code generation is efficient in the IDE for AI, where it auto-completes suggestions. Code optimisation is possible by AI, which identifies redundant patterns and suggests improvements.
Bug Detection and Troubleshooting
The developers can take AI assistance in bug detection and troubleshooting. The analysis of code is possible with AI-based testing tools. Developers leverage AI tools to find bugs and fix issues in the early stages of the development cycle. The automatic generation of test cases is done by AI testing tools. The timely and optimum testing cycles in the software enhance overall software quality.
To sum up, AI in the development field can take part in assisting developers in problem-solving. Along with that, it helps in documentation, code generation, testing and rewrite assistance in different languages.
Developers Feel the Pressure to Adopt AI
Bill Gates, in an Economic Times article, states that AI will not be able to replace developers, biologists and energy experts. But it surely has affected some areas of development, which impacts developers’ jobs. Developers are slowly adapting to the landscape of AI. With the changing technologies and progress of AI, it’s crucial to improve code quality and boost productivity.
Stack Overflow conducted a developer survey in 2024 to analyse sentiments on AI use. The questions help in analysing developer sentiments behind the sudden AI popularity. Over 60,000 developers participated in the survey led by Stack Overflow. Approximately 61.8% of developers use AI in the development process, which shows an increase from the previous year’s statistics.
(Source: 2024 Developer Survey, Stack Overflow)
In the same survey, over 80% of professional developers said that they witnessed an increase in productivity as a result of AI use in development. In addition to that, 60.8% of professional developers report that AI tools are a great space for speeding up learning. Other benefits of using AI for development tasks include greater efficiency, improved coding accuracy, improved collaboration, and a manageable workload. However, when asked if the developers trust the outputs given by AI related to coding, there are sceptical answers. Only 43% of developers report that they feel good about AI’s accuracy, while over 30% do not trust AI results completely.
(Source: 2024 Developer Survey, Stack Overflow)
According to Lemon.io, over 92% of developers face the pressure of adopting AI. But why is that? The reason behind this is simple. The companies view AI integration as a necessity for maintaining relevance in the fast-growing industry. Hence, if the developers do not understand how to use AI in development, they cannot meet the industry demands.
Another reason developers feel pressured to adopt AI is that there is perceived career risk. If developers are not proficient in AI, they are at risk of being replaced by a developer who is. In light of this, a Reddit user unravels the growing pressure to adopt AI and automation. However, this may not be the case with every organisation. There are still many companies in India that prefer using traditional coding methods. This is due to a lack of trust in AI output and data security concerns.
So, is it necessary to adopt AI for development tasks?
AI models are trained on vast amounts of data. AI indeed makes the whole development process seamless. For example, developers may take hours to break out of a complex issue in coding, but AI will do it in seconds. So, to save time and automate workflows for complex tasks, AI is the way to go.
However, the programming of AI is such that they can have conversations like humans, but it’s not completely humanised. AI does not have the creativity of a human. AI yields output by learning from its training data. Developers must use their own creativity and critical thinking to complete projects. Hence, AI can take care of your tedious and repetitive tasks while you pay attention to more challenging tasks. AI is not going to replace developers anytime soon. But it is changing the way developers work. Since 2024, there have been several AI tools and platforms that assist developers in development tasks. Personalisation and Learning are two great examples of what AI can do for you as a developer. It will personalise your development experience as it adapts to your individual preferences and workflows. You can also use AI to learn from its codebase. Hence, let AI work as a tool, not a takeover.
Potential Challenges of Using AI in Development
You can look at the potential challenges of using AI in development as the reasons why it can’t replace humans.
Limited in Innovation and Creativity
The only aspect of software development is not coding itself, but coding creatively, which solves the root problem. In the real world, software projects need developers’ intuition and innovative solutions to approach complex issues. AI is creative and there’s no doubt about it. But it is limited in its creativity.
We will understand its nuances with an example of ChatGPT. Now, for smaller projects, you may not even notice the issue. But, for large-scale projects, AI tools may not fully comprehend what the client wants. ChatGPT is a widely used LLM which extends support for coding, debugging and troubleshooting. But it works with prompts where the developer will need to give proper instructions about what they want in the project.
If a company wants to create an intuitive web interface from ChatGPT, it will not be possible to replace human developers with AI. There is a chance that ChatGPT will give an output that looks similar to some existing website. ChatGPT learns from a massive dataset of texts and code. So it is likely that AI models will not provide a unique web interface using their creativity. The developers would have to develop the interface either from scratch or using AI-assisted coding, just as a human developer should.
Understanding Complex Business Requirements
Many projects fail due to communication gaps and unclear requirement gathering. For complex and large-scale projects, the first and most crucial step of software development is data gathering.
Humans, when compared to AI, can gather complex business requirements more feasibly and accurately. Human developers can interpret complex issues while AI cannot. To understand what the client wants, developers engage in meetings and gather requirements. Some requirements may not be present in the documentation, so the LLM will be unaware of them. The LLM may not make necessary assumptions intuitively about the missing requirements. A developer is more aware of hidden understandings, while AI tools aren’t.
Debugging complex systems
It’s still possible for AI systems to not fully understand the code if it’s complex. Microsoft Research conducted an experiment where they selected different AI models and performed debugging. Using a third-party debugging assistant (Debug Gym), Microsoft Research tested the AIs on a common software benchmark named SWE-bench. Of all the AI models, Claude 3.7 was the best performer, debugging the faulty code in approximately 48.4% of cases.
(Note: The performance of the agent with debugging tools is shown by green bars, and the performance of the agent without debugging tools is shown by grey bars.
Source: Microsoft Research)
Hence, organisations which rely too heavily on Artificial Intelligence may expose themselves to outside threats. Debugging and maintaining large systems is a complex task requiring human expertise and skills. AI tools can assist in debugging tasks, but they cannot take over just yet.
To Sum up
While it’s true that AI does wonders, it is also true that complex tasks requiring intuition and creativity need human developers. AI cannot fully replace the jobs of developers in the upcoming years. AI tools help streamline operations and automation. AI is a part of many small businesses with a smaller workforce. AI is not efficient enough to work on complex debugging and coding tasks. Developers can become more efficient in solving complex software development tasks by taking assistance from AI models. Our experts at VerveLogic, a leading web and mobile app development company in Jaipur, aim to make your development tasks easy.
We encourage you to consult our experts for your custom application development needs and make a difference for your customers.
FAQs
Will AI replace developers?
No, AI cannot take over developer jobs. Even after notable improvements in LLM models, they are not equipped to perform complex development tasks.
Are web developer jobs threatened by AI?
Not entirely. AI is more of an aid to developers instead of being a threat. However, organisations look for candidates who can work in changing technological environments.
Which jobs will be obsolete because of AI in 2025?
In 2025, AI advancements will affect jobs requiring data entry, bookkeeping, and customer support.
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