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Gen AI boosts productivity, but only for certain developers - here's why

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ZDNET's key takeaways

Close to one-third of code is now AI-generated.

Developer productivity is up 4% due to generative AI.

Productivity gains are limited to more experienced developers.

The amount of AI-generated code worldwide has grown sixfold over the past two years, from 5% in 2022 to nearly 30% by the end of 2024. Along with it has come a measurable increase in programmer productivity.

These are some of the findings from a new study by the Complexity Science Hub (CSH), which examined the impact of AI tools and platforms on software development. Researchers developed a model that was applied to a large dataset covering software development activity across six countries.

Also: I got 4 years of product development done in 4 days for $200, and I'm still stunned

The cost implications of saving development hours are vast, as US companies alone are estimated to spend more than $600 billion annually on programming-related labor costs, the study's authors point out.

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