Do AI Coding Tools Actually Make Developers Faster? The Data Says It Depends

The useful part

Research on developer productivity presents a more complicated picture than the popular idea that AI automatically makes programmers more productive. Some studies have found significant productivity gains, while another controlled study found that experienced developers actually took longer when AI tools were available. The difference suggests that the real question may not be whether AI makes developers faster, but when and under what conditions AI makes developers faster.

How it works

• The researchers studied 4,867 software developers and evaluated what happened when developers were given access to GitHub Copilot.
• The researchers also found that less experienced developers experienced greater productivity gains.
• This is important because the study was conducted in real workplace environments rather than only asking developers whether they felt more productive.
• Across the three experiments, developers with access to the AI coding assistant completed 26.08% more tasks than those without access.
• It provides evidence that AI coding assistants can improve measurable output in some professional software-development settings.

What to take from it

July 2025, METR published a randomised controlled trial involving experienced open-source develo...

Details worth keeping

Artificial intelligence is changing the way software is developed. Do AI coding tools actually make developers faster?