UK developers slow to adopt AI tools says new survey

New research indicates that the adoption of AI tools by UK developers lags behind the global average, according to Stack Overflow's 2024 Developer Survey.

The survey collated responses from over 65,000 developers worldwide, including 3,224 developers in the UK. Despite the growing use of GenAI tools, a notable 29% of UK developers stated they were 'indifferent' towards employing AI tools in their work. Furthermore, 10% expressed a 'completely unfavourable' stance, situating the UK amongst the least favourable countries in Europe regarding GenAI usage.

In addition, 36% of UK developers reported they are not using AI tools in their development processes and have no plans to incorporate them in the future. This places the UK's AI tool usage significantly below the global average of 62%. However, there is a positive shift, with 51% of UK respondents indicating the use of AI tools in some capacity, an increase from 37% the previous year.

While 62% of those using AI tools in the UK find them 'very favourable' or 'favourable', this is still below the global average of 72%. These findings reflect an increasing, albeit cautious, approach to AI integration into development processes.

UK developers reported having the highest average years of coding experience at 18 years, surpassing their counterparts in the US (17 years), Canada (16 years), and India, where the average is 8 years.

The survey revealed a divide in trust towards the output from AI tools among UK developers. 40% of respondents considered the accuracy of AI tools to be more untrustworthy than trustworthy, while only 38% deemed them trustworthy. An additional 22% of respondents adopted a neutral stance.

A significant 68% of developers attributed 'lack of trust in output' as a primary concern, and 65% identified 'lack of codebase context' as another major challenge impacting their trust in AI tools. This highlights a general hesitance towards tools that may limit developers' control over their projects.

The opacity of AI decision-making processes is considered a factor that contributes to this scepticism. As technology advances, there may be a shift towards greater transparency and alignment with developers' practical needs, but for now, these concerns influence the uptake of AI in the UK's developer community.