As AI continues to permeate different industries with groundbreaking developments, even software engineers and developers are caught up in the whirlwind. The question many people are asking is, will AI replace software engineers and developers?
There is much information on the internet about how AI is changing the way software is developed. On top of that, every software development expert has their two cents on the debate between AI developers vs human developers.
For some, AI will never be smart and contextual like human developers. For others, AI will completely replace human developers over time. These concerns exist for software engineers and the companies that hire software engineers.
Are you a business owner at sixes and sevens because of the AI revolution? Do you want a reliable opinion on human developers vs. AI developers to make the right decisions for your business?
This article will help you clear the air on how to prepare for the future of software engineering with AI. At Zartis, we believe that AI will not replace human developers and software engineers. Instead, blending AI development with human ingenuity can take your software development projects to greater heights.
Continue reading to discover why our experts believe human developers are indispensable in any software development or engineering project.
What is AI software development?
Also called AI-assisted developers, AI software development tools leverage machine learning algorithms and natural language processing to assist in software engineering tasks, such as code generation, debugging, optimization, and other aspects of a development process.
The major advantages of AI developers are speed, accuracy, and other far-reaching capabilities within the scope of a particular programming language. For instance, they can review code quicker and detect errors more precisely, among other incredible features.
While AI developers do not possess the same cognitive abilities as human programmers, they can automate specific programming tasks and assist human developers in their work. This makes them a handy tool developers must learn to use in their software engineering projects.
How is AI used in software development projects?
The future of software engineering with AI is quite promising, with many use cases for AI-assisted developers in the software development industry. Here are some examples of the impact of AI on software engineering:
1. Task automation
- Coding: AI can free up more time for software developers to focus on more creative and strategic work by assisting with code generation, writing unit tests, and refactoring code.
- Testing: AI can assist developers by automating unit, integration, and user acceptance tests. With the results from these tests, developers can improve software product quality.
- Debugging: AI helps find and fix bugs in code early in the development process, resulting in faster debugging and better software quality.
- Security: AI-assisted developers can identify security vulnerabilities in code, protecting users from cyberattacks and other security threats.
- Deployment: It’s possible to shorten the time-to-market for software products by using AI to automate mundane tasks. Aside from that, developers can deploy software to production environments quicker with AI.
- Maintenance: AI developers can automatically update software with new features and bug fixes, helping to keep software up-to-date and ensuring users have the latest features and security patches.
2. Finding new ideas
- Software features: AI can find new and innovative ideas developers can leverage to improve the user experience and make software more valuable. AI-assisted developers use data analytics and pattern recognition, neural networks and generative models, and natural language processing to understand trends and recommend ideas for new software features.
- Products: AI algorithms can analyse large datasets, user behaviour patterns, market trends, and other relevant data sources to draw out patterns, trends, and insights for new product ideas.
3. Solving problems
- Bugs: Encountering bugs in code is typical in software development. However, AI can help developers find and fix bugs in code. Also, AI-assisted developers can identify security vulnerabilities in code.
- Performance: Developers can improve software performance by using AI to optimise code or identify bottlenecks in the software.
- Usability: AI developers’ algorithms can identify features that are difficult to use or suggest improvements to the user interface. Developers can harness these valuable AI recommendations to improve software usability significantly.
What are the benefits of AI for developers?
AI-powered development tools assist developers in achieving better results in their software development projects by automating tasks, generating new ideas, and solving software usability and performance problems.
To summarise, AI developers offer the following benefits:
- Improved efficiency: AI can automate many tasks in software development, such as coding, testing, and debugging, making it possible for developers to focus on more creative and strategic work.
- Increased quality: AI can help find and fix bugs early in the development process, which human developers can easily miss, leading to higher-quality software.
- Reduced costs: AI can significantly reduce software development costs by automating mundane tasks, which you might have had to pay a developer for.
- New opportunities: Many people do not understand how AI is creating new opportunities for software engineers. However, with AI advancements, there is a surging need for new types of software in the software development industry. Developers can find these open doors and make them golden opportunities.
Should my business use AI-assisted developers instead of human software engineers for software development?
AI developers make software development projects faster, more accurate, and more efficient. However, they will never replace the ingenuity of human software engineers in software development.
Below are three top reasons you can’t wish your human software engineers away:
1. Creativity
While AI can automate tasks and speed up the software development process, you’ll need a human developer to think out of the box when faced with a challenge. Although AI can analyse data to solve problems, humans can create untempered solutions to problems.
One of the greatest inventions in 2023 and in history, Apple Vision Pro, was developed by an Apple software development team led by Mike Rockwell, who also formed a team that included Metaio co-founder, Peter Meier, and Apple Watch manager Fletcher Rothkopf.
Working with Apple’s creative design team, they invented Apple’s first mixed-reality device, also referred to as a spatial computer. AI’s creativity is limited to available data, but human creativity is limitless.
2. Communication
Communication is critical in the software development journey. Human developers can communicate effectively with stakeholders and users. They can provide and receive feedback from employers, other developers, and end users, which can significantly improve the software product quality.
AI-assisted software developers may not excel at communication without prompts. This limitation makes it necessary to have human developers fully involved in the software development journey.
3. Adaptability
Rapid changes to software requirements are commonplace in any software development project. Experienced software engineers can instantly adapt to these changes and still deliver high-quality software products. Plus, human developers can intuitively decipher where a change is necessary by relating with users and understanding them in a way that AI can’t.
On the flip side, you must feed AI-assisted developers with details about the changes to software requirements to be on the same page. Although fast and efficient, AI can’t intuitively decipher when a change might be necessary because they lack the quality of human emotions.
Also Read: How to Scale Your Business With a Dedicated Development Team
Zartis can seamlessly blend human software engineers’ ingenuity and AI-assisted developers’ automation to help you build powerful software products
There are many discussions about the role of AI in software development, including what is the impact of AI on software engineering jobs. Although AI can guarantee a faster, more accurate, and highly efficient software development process, the technology can’t replace human developers.
Notwithstanding, the new requirement for those who understand how AI is changing software engineering is AI upskilling and reskilling for software engineers. Software engineers who can upskill and reskill to blend AI into their development processes would be needed across multiple industries.
At Zartis, we understand how AI is changing the software development landscape, and we have quickly adapted to AI efficiency in software engineering. To help our clients build high-quality products quicker, we have invested resources into sourcing and training highly-skilled developers to leverage AI automation in software engineering.
In over 10 years of serving clients with high-quality development teams, we have a track record of outsourcing developers who are up-to-date with current practices and trends in the software development industry. That being the case, we can help you source developers who are abreast of AI impact on software engineering.
Do you want to build a reliable software development team that understands how AI is improving software quality and efficiency? Contact us now to help you achieve your software development goals with a new crop of development teams trained to use AI for more efficient software product development.
