Gen AI improves software engineering productivity by 70%, says report

The study also found that using Gen AI, there was a reduction of around 10% in high code complexity tasks.

Software engineers can save about 70 percent time in completing a task for existing code updates using generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI), a report by Ness-Zinnov study has revealed.

This finding assumes significance as the study measures the actual productivity gains resulting from deploying Gen AI at an engineering level, because productivity is a known outcome of Gen AI initiatives.

"Engineers witnessed maximum impact when utilizing existing codebase functions, leading to reduced development cycle time," the report said, jointly launched by digital services company Ness and consulting firm Zinnov.

Further, around 48 percent senior engineers witnessed reduction in task completion time, the report read. Generative AI also enables engineers to navigate complex coding scenarios with increased efficiency, contributing to faster and more accurate solutions.

The study engaged over 100 software engineers across use-cases and development settings and an in-depth analysis of engineers' real-world experiences in live engineering environments.

Also read: 59% of Indian enterprises actively deploying AI

The study also found that using Gen AI, there was a reduction of around 10 percent in high code complexity tasks. Generative AI enabled engineers to navigate complex coding scenarios with increased efficiency, contributing to faster and more accurate resolutions.

"While the potential of Generative AI is vast, limitations primarily stem from hardware costs, energy consumption, and regulatory constraints," Pari Natarajan, chief executive officer, Zinnov, was quoted as saying in the release.