Instant Paper

Copilots for Coding

Exploring the impact of GenAI on software development.

GenAI on software development

In the field of software development, Generative AI is revolutionizing the traditional approach to code. From simple tools providing hints to content and code creation, this technology is redefining every phase of the software lifecycle: requirements gathering, design, development, testing, and deployment, as well as documentation production. 

Even though we are only at the beginning, the future looks promising. As this technology continues to evolve, developers are increasingly turning to GenAI tools to streamline software production lines, enhance productivity, and improve code quality.

Code copilot systems, such as GitHub Copilot, powered by Large Language Models are among the most used tools. These systems act as intelligent assistants, capable of generating code, suggesting improvements, and even automating entire steps of productivity processes.

Our GitHub Copilot Adoption Trial

In 2024, we held a GitHub Copilot adoption trial of 9 months involving more than 70 developers from 10 different development teams engaged in real business projects.

Our journey began with a clear mission: to understand the actual impact of AI on developer productivity and software quality. Unlike lab-based studies, which often fail to capture the nuances of real-world projects, we chose to conduct our trial under authentic business-as-usual conditions, randomly selecting from existing ongoing projects.

We developed a cross-team standard approach to allow us to test the benefits of GenAI in software development in any business context.

The results of our trial clearly demonstrate in the field the benefits GenAI is bringing to software development both in terms of productivity gain and software quality improvement.