249 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
249 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
Products
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Developers
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Technology
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AI
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Work
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Stack Overflow
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Methodology
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3
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AI
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In this section we gain insight into the real sentiments behind the surge in AI popularity. Is it making a real impact in the way developers work or is it all hype?
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3.1. Sentiment and usage →
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3.2. Developer tools →
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3.3. AI Agents →
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3.1
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Sentiment and usage
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AI tools in the development process
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84% of respondents are using or planning to use AI tools in their development process, an increase over last year (76%). This year we can see 51% of professional developers use AI tools daily.
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Do you currently use AI tools in your development process?
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All Respondents
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Professional Developers
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Learning to Code
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Early Career Devs
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Mid Career Devs
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Experienced Devs
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Yes, I use AI tools daily47.1%Yes, I use AI tools weekly17.7%Yes, I use AI tools monthly or infrequently13.7%No, but I plan to soon5.3%No, and I don't plan to16.2%
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Responses: 33,662(68.7%)
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AI tool sentiment
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Conversely to usage, positive sentiment for AI tools has decreased in 2025: 70%+ in 2023 and 2024 to just 60% this year. Professionals show a higher overall favorable sentiment (61%) than those learning to code (53%).
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How favorable is your stance on using AI tools as part of your development workflow?
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All Respondents
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Professional Developers
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Learning to Code
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Early Career Devs
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Mid Career Devs
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Experienced Devs
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Very favorable22.9%Favorable36.8%Indifferent17.6%Unsure2.3%Unfavorable10.8%Very unfavorable9.6%
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Responses: 33,412(68.2%)
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3.2
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Developer tools
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Accuracy of AI tools
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More developers actively distrust the accuracy of AI tools (46%) than trust it (33%), and only a fraction (3%) report "highly trusting" the output. Experienced developers are the most cautious, with the lowest "highly trust" rate (2.6%) and the highest "highly distrust" rate (20%), indicating a widespread need for human verification for those in roles with accountability.
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How much do you trust the accuracy of the output from AI tools as part of your development workflow?
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All Respondents
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Professional Developers
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Learning to Code
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Early Career Devs
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Mid Career Devs
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Experienced Devs
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Highly trust3.1%Somewhat trust29.6%Somewhat distrust26.1%Highly distrust19.6%
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Responses: 33,244(67.8%)
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AI tools' ability to handle complex tasks
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In 2024, 35% of professional developers already believed that AI tools struggled with complex tasks. This year, that number has dropped to 29% among professional developers and is consistent amongst experience levels. Complex tasks carry too much risk to spend extra time proving out the efficacy of AI tools.
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How well do the AI tools you use in your development workflow handle complex tasks?
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All Respondents
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Professional Developers
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Learning to Code
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Early Career Devs
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Mid Career Devs
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Experienced Devs
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Very well at handling complex tasks4.4%Good, but not great at handling complex tasks25.2%Neither good or bad at handling complex tasks14.1%Bad at handling complex tasks22%Very poor at handling complex tasks17.6%I don't use AI tools for complex tasks / I don't know16.8%
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Responses: 33,230(67.8%)
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AI in the development workflow
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Developers show the most resistance to using AI for high-responsibility, systemic tasks like Deployment and monitoring (76% don't plan to) and Project planning (69% don't plan to).
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Which parts of your development workflow are you currently integrating into AI or using AI tools to accomplish or plan to use AI to accomplish over the next 3 - 5 years? Please select one for each scenario.
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Currently Mostly AI
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Currently Partially AI
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Plan to Partially Use AI
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Plan to Mostly Use AI
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Don't Plan to Use AI for This Task
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Search for answers54.1%Generating content or synthetic data35.8%Learning new concepts or technologies33.1%Documenting code30.8%Creating or maintaining documentation24.8%Learning about a codebase20.8%Debugging or fixing code20.7%Testing code17.9%Writing code16.9%Predictive analytics11%Project planning10.8%Committing and reviewing code10.2%Deployment and monitoring6.2%
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Download
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Responses: 11,202(22.9%)
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AI workflow and tool satisfaction
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Respondents who said they are currently using mostly AI tools to complete tasks in the development workflow are highly satisfied with and frequently using AI to search for answers or learn new concepts; respondents plan to mostly use AI in the future for documentation and testing tasks and are slightly less satisfied with the tools they are using now.
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How favorable is your stance on using AI tools as part of your development workflow and which parts of your development workflow are you currently integrating into AI or using AI tools to accomplish or plan to use AI to accomplish over the next 3 - 5 years? Please select one for each scenario.
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Currently mostly AI
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Currently partially AI
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Plan to partially use AI
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Plan to mostly use AI
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Don't plan to use AI for this task
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Number of responses6,053685Average AI Sentiment Recoded (1 - Very Unfavorable to 6 - Very Favorable)Percent of respondents5.255.35.355.45.455.55.555.65.65% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50% 55Commit/ReviewDocsDebug/fixOpsDocumenting codeContent/DataLeaning codebaseLearning techPredictive analyticsProject planningAnswersTesting codeWriting code
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 11,184(22.8%)
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AI tool frustrations
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The biggest single frustration, cited by 66% of developers, is dealing with "AI solutions that are almost right, but not quite," which often leads to the second-biggest frustration: "Debugging AI-generated code is more time-consuming" (45%)
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When using AI tools, which of the following problems or frustrations have you encountered? Select all that apply.
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AI solutions that are almost right, but not quite66%Debugging AI-generated code is more time-consuming45.2%I don’t use AI tools regularly23.5%I’ve become less confident in my own problem-solving20%It’s hard to understand how or why the code works16.3%Other (write in):11.6%I haven’t encountered any problems4%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 31,476(64.2%)
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AI and humans in the future
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In a future with advanced AI, the #1 reason developers would still ask a person for help is "When I don’t trust AI’s answers" (75%). This positions human developers as the ultimate arbiters of quality and correctness.
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In the future, if AI can do most coding tasks, in which situations would you still want to ask another person for help? Select all that apply.
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When I don’t trust AI’s answers75.3%When I have ethical or security concerns about code61.7%When I want to fully understand something61.3%When I want to learn best practices58.1%When I’m stuck and can’t explain the problem54.6%When I need help fixing complex or unfamiliar code49.8%When I want to compare different solutions44.1%When I need quick help troubleshooting27.5%Other6.1%I don’t think I’ll need help from people anymore4.3%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 29,163(59.5%)
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Vibe coding
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Most respondents are not vibe coding (72%), and an additional 5% are emphatic it not being part of their development workflow.
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In your own words, is "vibe coding" part of your professional development work? For this question, we define vibe coding according to the Wikipedia definition, the process of generating software from LLM prompts.
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All Respondents
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18-24 years old
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25-34 years old
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35-44 years old
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45-54 years old
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55-64 years old
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Yes, emphatically0.4%Yes11.9%Yes, somewhat2.8%I have tried it2.1%Not sure1.2%No72.2%No, emphatically5.3%Uncategorized4%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 26,564(54.2%)
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3.3
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AI Agents
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AI agents
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AI agents are not yet mainstream. A majority of developers (52%) either don't use agents or stick to simpler AI tools, and a significant portion (38%) have no plans to adopt them.
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Are you using AI agents in your work (development or otherwise)? AI agents refer to autonomous software entities that can operate with minimal to no direct human intervention using artificial intelligence techniques.
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All Respondents
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Professional Developers
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Learning to Code
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Professional AI Users
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Learning AI Users
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Yes, I use AI agents at work daily14.1%Yes, I use AI agents at work weekly9%Yes, I use AI agents at work monthly or infrequently7.8%No, but I plan to17.4%No, I use AI exclusively in copilot/autocomplete mode13.8%No, and I don't plan to37.9%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 31,877(65%)
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AI agents affect on work productivity
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52% of developers agree that AI tools and/or AI agents have had a positive effect on their productivity.
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Have AI tools or AI agents changed how you complete development work in the past year?
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Yes, to a great extent16.3%Yes, somewhat35.3%Not at all or minimally41.4%No, but my development work has significantly changed due to non-AI factors2.6%No, but my development work has changed somewhat due to non-AI factors4.5%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 31,636(64.5%)
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AI agent uses at work
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If you happen to be using AI agents at work and you are a software developer, chances are high that you are using agents for software development (84%).
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What industry purposes or specific tasks are you using AI agents in your development work? Select all that apply from both lists.
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Software engineering83.5%Data and analytics24.9%IT operations18%Business process automation17.6%Decision intelligence11.3%Customer service support11.2%Marketing8.6%Cybersecurity7.4%Robotics3.9%Other2.2%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 12,301(25.1%)
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AI agent uses for general purposes
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TL;DR: Agents used outside of work are mostly used for language processing tasks (49%).
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What industry purposes or specific tasks are you using AI agents in your development work? Select all that apply from both lists.
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Language processing49%Integration with external agents and APIs38.3%MCP servers34.4%Agent/multi-agent orchestration28.1%Vector databases for AI applications24.1%Multi-platform search enablement19.4%Personalized agent creation18.3%Other3%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 5,797(11.8%)
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Impacts of AI agents
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The most recognized impacts are personal efficiency gains, and not team-wide impact. Approximately 70% of agent users agree that agents have reduced the time spent on specific development tasks, and 69% agree they have increased productivity. Only 17% of users agree that agents have improved collaboration within their team, making it the lowest-rated impact by a wide margin.
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To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding the impact of AI agents on your work as a developer?
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27.3%35.9%21.3%8.2%7.3%AI agents have accelerated my learning about new technologies or codebases.29.3%34.9%22.4%7%6.4%AI agents have helped me automate repetitive tasks.17.1%31.9%25.3%14.2%11.5%AI agents have helped me solve complex problems more effectively.6.6%10.7%40.5%20%22.2%AI agents have improved collaboration within my team.12.2%25.3%32.4%17.1%13.1%AI agents have improved the quality of my code.27.7%41%20.4%6%4.9%AI agents have increased my productivity.29.3%40.8%17.8%6.9%5.1%AI agents have reduced the time spent on specific development tasks.Strongly agreeSomewhat agreeNeutralSomewhat disagreeStrongly disagree
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 12,823(26.2%)
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Challenges with AI agents
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Is it a learning curve, or is the tech not there yet? 87% of all respondents agree they are concerned about the accuracy, and 81% agree they have concerns about the security and privacy of data.
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To what extent do you agree with the following statements regarding AI agents?
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57.1%29.8%9.7%2.3%1.1%I am concerned about the accuracy of the information provided by AI agents.56.1%25.3%11.7%4.7%2.2%I have concerns about the security and privacy of data when using AI agents.16.5%29.7%37.3%12.6%3.9%Integrating AI agents with my existing tools and workflows can be difficult.15.5%27.9%31.8%17.8%6.9%It takes significant time and effort to learn how to use AI agents effectively.13.8%14.4%30.6%15%26.2%My company's IT and/or InfoSec teams have strict rules that do not allow me to use AI agent tools or platforms25.4%27.9%31.8%10.3%4.6%The cost of using certain AI agent platforms is a barrier.Strongly agreeSomewhat agreeNeutralSomewhat disagreeStrongly disagree
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 28,930(59%)
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AI Agent data storage tools
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When it comes to data management for agents, traditional, developer-friendly tools like Redis (43%) are being repurposed for AI, alongside emerging vector-native databases like ChromaDB (20%) and pgvector (18%).
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You indicated you use or develop AI agents as part of your development work. Have you used any of the following tools for AI agent memory or data management in the past year?
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Redis42.9%GitHub MCP Server42.8%supabase20.9%ChromaDB19.7%pgvector17.9%Neo4j12.3%Pinecone11.2%Qdrant8.2%Milvus5.2%Fireproof5%LangMem4.8%Weaviate4.5%LanceDB4.4%mem04%Zep2.8%Letta2.5%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 3,398(6.9%)
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AI Agent orchestration tools
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The agent orchestration space is currently led by open-source tools. Among developers building agents, Ollama (51%) and LangChain (33%) are the most-used frameworks.
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You indicated you use or develop AI agents as part of your development work. Have you used any of the following tools for AI agent orchestration or agent frameworks in the past year?
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Ollama51.1%LangChain32.9%LangGraph16.2%Vertex AI15.1%Amazon Bedrock Agents14.5%OpenRouter13.4%Llama Index13.3%AutoGen (Microsoft)12%Zapier11.8%CrewAI7.5%Semantic Kernel6%IBM watsonx.ai5.7%Haystack4.4%Smolagents3.7%Agno3.4%phidata2.1%Smol-AGI1.9%Martian1.7%lyzr1.5%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 3,758(7.7%)
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AI Agent observability and security
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Developers are primarily adapting their existing, traditional monitoring tools for this new task, rather than adopting new, AI-native solutions. The most used tools for AI agent observability are staples of the DevOps and application monitoring world: Grafana + Prometheus are used by 43% of agent developers, and Sentry is used by 32%.
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You indicated you use or develop AI agents as part of your development work. Have you used any of the following tools for AI agent observability, monitoring or security in the past year?
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Grafana + Prometheus43%Sentry31.8%Snyk18.2%New Relic13%LangSmith12.5%Honeycomb8.8%Langfuse8.8%Wiz6.9%Galileo6.2%Adversarial Robustness Toolbox (ART)5.5%Protect AI5%Vectra AI4.4%arize3.7%helicone3.2%Metero2.7%opik2.3%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 2,689(5.5%)
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AI Agent out-of-the-box tools
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ChatGPT (82%) and GitHub Copilot (68%) are the clear market leaders, serving as the primary entry point for most developers using out-of-the-box AI assistance.
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You indicated you use or develop AI agents as part of your development work. Have you used any of the following out-of-the-box agents, copilots or assistants?
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ChatGPT81.7%GitHub Copilot67.9%Google Gemini47.4%Claude Code40.8%Microsoft Copilot31.3%Perplexity16.2%v0.dev9.1%Bolt.new6.5%Lovable.dev5.7%AgentGPT5%Tabnine5%Replit5%Auto-GPT4.7%Amazon Codewhisperer3.9%Blackbox AI3.5%Roo code (Roo-Cline)3.4%Cody3%Devin AI2.7%Glean (Enterprise Agents)1.3%OpenHands (formerly OpenDevin)1%
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Download
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Share
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Responses: 8,323(17%)
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