AI coding hype overblown, Bain shrugs
October 1, 2025
Software development was one of the first areas to adopt generative AI, but the promised revolution has so far delivered only modest productivity gains, and Bain says only a full rethink of the software lifecycle will shift the dial.
As things stand, generative AI in software development has failed to live up to the hype, the wide-ranging Technology Report 2025 from management consultants Bain & Company says. Two-thirds of software firms have rolled out GenAI tools, but developer adoption is low among those, and teams using AI assistants report a productivity boost of perhaps 10 to 15 percent.
Source: AI coding hype overblown, Bain shrugs • The Register
It should be clear by now that we’re optimistic about the impact of AI and large language models on the process and practise of software development. But as this article in The Register reports, results from surveys and studies often are less positive.
So, what’s going on here? Are the folks like me and many others, many experienced developers, deluded? Caught up in the hype? Well, it’s possible, but based on my conversation with dozens of developers who are using this technology in real-world situations, I say that certainly doesn’t explain everything.
So, what’s going on? One possibility is that we’re still very early in terms of learning how to best use these technologies, and it is the folks with both considerable experience as software engineers who are also putting very significant amounts of work into developing patterns and practises and processes who are seeing significant gains, while the reflexive and not deeply thoughtful use of these technologies probably won’t lead to particularly positive outcomes.
