AI is changing the rules of the game in software development: it generates code, automates routine processes, and speeds up product releases. Experts explain what opportunities this opens up for business
In 2018, research company Gartner predicted that software development teams would begin to use AI en masse in the near future. Experts accurately anticipated the future trend. In 2023, 41% of the code base was written by AI, at Google – more than a quarter . As of 2024, AI has already generated 256 billion lines of software code.
In May 2024, the international platform Stack Overflow conducted a survey among more than 65 thousand developers around the world. AI is used unevenly in different areas: 82% use it for writing code, 57% for fixing bugs, 40% for creating documentation, 27% for testing, less than 5% for deploying and monitoring application operation. The respondents named documentation (81%), testing (80%) and writing (76%) code as the most promising areas for the near future.
Scope of AI application
Modern AI tools change the functionality of each specialist in the development team – analyst, programmer, tester. “The role of the engineer is shifting from routine development to managing the architecture and quality of the project. And artificial intelligence takes on tasks that can be quickly and easily automated,” said Dmitry Medvedev, Director of the Applied Solutions Department at Lanit-Tercom.
The greatest enthusiasm is caused by the ability to generate working code. “This is an area where you don’t even need to prove anything to anyone, it’s so obvious to everyone that AI speeds up processes,” stated Vladislav Balayev, head of practice at the Lanit Big Data and Artificial Intelligence Competence Center. “On average, by 50%, meaning that a developer can already perform twice as many tasks. Routine operations (writing simple tests or restructuring code) can be almost entirely delegated to generative tools.”
“If you have a startup and have a clearly defined set of rules and requirements, then, in principle, artificial intelligence can generate a quality project from zero to MVP (minimum viable product. — Ts Trends ),” says Dmitry Medvedev. “In the future, it will certainly be necessary to involve more experienced developers and architects to improve and launch the product into operation.”
There are a number of AI tools that help the developer. Popular foreign services include Cursor, Windsurf, GitHub Copilot. There are also products – GigaCode, SourceCraft Code Assistant, Kodify.
At the same time, the scope of AI application in development is diverse, as evidenced, in particular, by a study conducted by Lanit-BPM in 2024. The company said that AI tools can not only write code at the level of a junior developer, but also explain algorithms, generate unit tests, test cases, documentation, decipher recordings of meetings with customers, and answer questions on project documentation.
Alexander Nozik noted that more and more studies are appearing now showing that the main benefit of AI is in searching for information and solving secondary problems. “For example, programmers really don’t like writing documentation, but language models (not even large ones, but local ones) cope with this very well,” he noted.
In prototyping, the use of AI reduces the time it takes to create an MVP from several months to weeks or days, Dmitry Medvedev said. In addition, AI can help improve the quality of the code: it analyzes historical data, identifies vulnerabilities, and predicts potential errors, which reduces the number of bugs and increases the reliability of products.
AI is also being implemented in the work of analysts: companies are experimenting, looking for tasks that can be automated, Vladislav Balayev emphasized. Neural tools can help analysts in recording and summarizing meetings, searching the knowledge base and other routine processes.
One such tool is Landev AI’s Silicon Assistants platform. It allows you to locally deploy large language models (LLM), including code generation models, and use them in both chat mode and complex document, audio, and image processing pipelines. This allows employees to safely test hypotheses and share ideas within the team.
For example, the platform can be used at the stage of collecting and analyzing customer requirements, says Vladislav Balayev: “The customer describes his ideas, he is asked questions. And then you need to make a summary from this – and this process is accelerated four times due to AI, and AI can work on several projects at once.” A promising direction is to formalize the result in the form of a ready-made specification, added Alexander Lutai.
The use of AI has its limitations and disadvantages. It is important to remember that models are trained on open existing code, which may contain vulnerabilities, and, accordingly, reproduce them, warns Alexander Lutai. “AI-generated code is often fragile, it breaks with small changes in the task statement. Solving complex tasks using AI is much more labor-intensive than classical methods,” Alexander Nozik noted.
Experts agree: AI is useful because it frees employees from performing standard tasks and automates routine work. “Of course, a developer should retain expertise in software development, have a good knowledge of the programming languages used in the project, and be able to write basic constructions,” noted Alexander Lutai. “But if all the code is written manually, it will take too much time. AI tools can act as assistants to the developer: he will have more time for more creative tasks that will add value to the company — improving the product or coming up with a new one, responding to feedback from users.”
Safety and possible risks
Neural assistants consist of two parts, explains Alexander Lutai. The first part is a development environment or interface where the AI assistant can be integrated. The second part is the actual large language model, which can be hosted either in the cloud or locally.
Interaction with the cloud model assumes that some information — a developer’s request, a code base — will go beyond the company’s perimeter. “For some, this is unacceptable. In the case of locally deployed LLMs, this risk is eliminated, but resources are required. A model with a size of 8-14 billion parameters can be deployed on a fairly good computer, for larger models you need to buy a server. This costs money,” noted Alexander Lutai.
“There is a good phrase: “There are no clouds, there are other people’s computers,” Nikolai Kostrigin reminded. “Of course, for processing official and especially confidential information, it is better to form your own infrastructure, although it is more expensive. For example, in the case of research into the development of secure software, when the processed data potentially contains information about vulnerabilities in the code, at least to guarantee the preservation of the embargo during the period of responsible disclosure.”
However, it is obvious that public resources are being used and will continue to be used – at least to reduce development costs, the expert added.
“When you send something outside, you take a risk: the place you send it to can be hacked, your message can be intercepted in the middle. A separate issue is that from the point of view of our country’s security, it is simply impossible to send code to external models, especially in government projects,” Vladislav Balayev emphasized. This creates risks of intellectual property leakage and inclusion of elements in the code that violate license agreements: the generated code may contain a fragment protected by copyright, says Dmitry Medvedev.
For sensitive code bases in corporations, the use of commercial network large models is usually not considered at all – large companies rely on the deployment of local models, notes Alexander Nozik.
Implementing AI: Expert Advice
For entrepreneurs and investors, the increasing spread of AI means a fundamental shift in approaches to creating digital products. “If developers do not learn to operate with large language models, generate code, use certain editors or plugins for this, then they will simply become uncompetitive in the coming months, they will lose momentum,” warns Vladislav Balayev.
At the same time, experts emphasize: it is important to correctly use the capabilities of AI. “The main danger here is to try to solve all problems with the help of AI. This usually only leads to increased costs,” says Alexander Nozik. For the successful implementation of AI, it is necessary to conduct a study of business processes and find fairly simple tasks that can be entrusted to it, he noted.
It is very important to have a clear understanding of where artificial intelligence can be used, Dmitry Medvedev noted: “AI will not take on all the tasks. You will still need employees to monitor the results, and you need to clearly define the area where AI will be implemented.”
Effective use of AI requires the ability to restructure thinking, experts note. “First, you need to understand where the boundaries of the data that can be given to external services are,” advises Alexander Lutai. “Then invest in training employees in the correct communication with models, writing prompts. You can use cloud LLM in those issues where compliance allows it. And thus, specifically for yourself, feel out those areas of application where LLM helps to solve problems faster.”
The scenarios that have proven effective need to be used to form a knowledge base, the speaker continues: “People will start using them. Because if you simply give access to the model, it will be difficult for most employees to trust this tool and start using it effectively.” And for the data that cannot be given outside, it is necessary to select a suitable LLM, deploy it within the company’s perimeter, and then create more specialized solutions based on it, added Alexander Lutai. In all this work, it is best to seek qualified advice from professionals, experts emphasize.
Prospects
Artificial intelligence has already become an integral part of the software development process, changing traditional approaches and increasing the efficiency of teams. “Now this is not just a new trend, but stable and effective work in the product environment,” Dmitry Medvedev noted. “I think the role of AI will only increase in the near future.”
The future belongs to hybrid solutions, where neural networks complement human skills. “Artificial intelligence is a support tool, not a replacement for the developer’s professional experience,” Dmitry Medvedev emphasized. “AI will not take over all functions. It will help in code generation, in relatively simple tasks. But if the developer, programmer, or employee does not understand what AI has generated, this will very quickly lead to a crisis in the project.”
“I think that as tools become more widespread and the hype around them subsides, AI will become as much a given as an IDE (integrated development environment. — Ts Trends ) or static code analyzers,” says Alexander Nozik. “Open-source models are gradually catching up with proprietary ones in terms of quality, so the security problem in terms of a closed circuit will also be solved.”