These are the AI assistants developers are actually using - and how they're using them

6 days ago 3

Developers are particularly fond of ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot
Google Gemini isn’t actually used much for coding, survey finds
96% say that AI helps them to save time

New research from JetBrains based on survey results from more than 23,000 developers has revealed which AI coding assistants developers are actually using, but it just confirms what we already know.

OpenAI’s ChatGPT stood out as the leader, with two in three (66.4%) who tried the platform continuing to use it. GitHub Copilot follows closely in second place, with an adoption rate of 64.5%.

However, this is just half the picture, because while 52.4% of those who tried Anthropic Claude continued to use the platform, demonstrating a high level of satisfaction, only 2.7% of developers use it in the first place.

Developers are actually using AI coders

Satisfaction aside, JetBrains found nearly half (49%) of the developers surveyed regularly use ChatGPT. Microsoft-owned GitHub Copilot, which is powered by OpenAI’s models, is used by 26% of developers, with Google Gemini favored by just 7% and JetBrains’ own AI Assistant by a mere 5%.

Eight in 10 (80%) companies either allow the use of third-party AI tools to varying extents or don’t have a policy on their use, with only one in 10 (11%) totally banning third-party cloud-based AI tools.

More than half of the respondents acknowledged that AI can increase their productivity (57%), enable them to complete repetitive tasks more quickly (57%) or code and develop more quickly overall (58%), however the key driver for many (67%) was a reduction in time spent searching for information. Only one in four (23%) said that AI created better-quality code.

Additionally, three-fifths (59%) say they save between one and four hours per week when using AI, with only 4% stating that they don’t save any time at all.

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Full details of the Developer Ecosystem 2024 report can be found online, including more information about the popularity of coding languages and the rise of virtual reality.