Dynamics of Sentiment and Attitudes Toward AI Among Developers

Summary

JetBrains’ Developer Ecosystem and AI Pulse surveys spanning 2024 to 2026 reveal rapidly changing developer sentiment and attitudes toward AI. Delegation readiness surged: writing application logic code jumped from 18% to 50%, test writing from 50% to 75%, and refactoring from 38% to 60% over one year. However, code review and debugging remain tasks that most developers are not yet ready to fully delegate, though readiness is climbing — code review from 33% to 43% and debugging reluctance dropping from 76% to 54%. The vast majority (79%) now expect employers to require AI tool proficiency, up from 59% in 2024. Concerns about AI reducing developer demand rose to 37% from 28%, and 25% believe AI will fully replace human developers, with 37% of heavy AI agent users sharing that view.

Takeaways

1. 1

   From 2025 to 2026, readiness to delegate writing application logic code to AI tripled from 18% to 50%, while test writing delegation readiness rose from 50% to 75%.

2. 2

   Code review and debugging remain the tasks developers are least willing to fully delegate to AI, though readiness increased (code review from 33% to 43%; debugging reluctance dropped from 76% to 54%).

3. 3

   The proportion of developers who believe AI will fully replace human developers rose sharply from 8% in 2024 to 25% in 2026, with heavy AI agent users more likely to agree (37%).

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