JetBrains survey reveals rising AI agent dependency in software development

A survey by JetBrains involving over 15,000 professional developers reveals a significant shift toward AI-driven coding. On average, AI agents fully generate approximately 47% of code, while developers use AI assistance for another 38%. Notably, 21% of developers reported writing 0% of their code without AI assistance.

The data shows that senior developers with over six years of experience are leading the transition to agentic workflows, with 25% delegating more than 80% of their code generation to AI agents. This surpasses the rates seen in middle-level (17%) and junior (18%) developers.

Regional trends indicate that developers in East Asia, including China, Japan, and South Korea, are adopting agent-based coding at roughly twice the rate of those in Europe and the UK. Tool usage varies, with Codex, Claude Code, and Cursor being prominent among high-level agent users.