Artificial intelligence is making major inroads with UK developers, with nearly one in five now using AI-powered tools such as ChatGPT regularly on the job, a new study has found.
The survey of 2,000 developers across the UK revealed that 19% are actively employing AI in some capacity in their day-to-day work. The study, conducted by cybersecurity provider Indusface, uncovered that the most common uses of AI among developers are explaining code snippets (12%), optimizing code (9%), and generating documents related to projects (9%).
“It’s no secret that AI can aid developers within the workplace in a variety of different ways,” said Venky Sundar, Founder and President of Indusface. “It improves developers’ productivity by carrying out repetitive tasks and saving time in spotting coding errors.”
The study found significant differences in AI adoption depending on the specific role of the developer. Nearly one third of security developers (31%) reported using AI regularly at work – the most of any type of developer. Other frequent AI users include AI/machine learning developers (22%), DevOps engineers (21%), and full stack (20%) and backend web developers (20%).
While AI tools promise improved productivity, the study authors warn developers should be cautious about security risks. “You could ask ChatGPT to write content from scratch without risking your company’s data security,” Sundar advised, rather than inputting private information directly. Still in its early days of adoption, AI promises both potential gains as well as pitfalls for developers leveraging the emerging technology.