Agentic · MIT Technology Review
Software engineering has experienced two seismic shifts this century
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Now, a third such shift looks to be taking shape with the adoption of agentic AI in software engineering.
Key facts
- Agentic AI is in (mostly limited) use by 51% of software teams today, and 45% have plans to adopt it within the next 12 months
- Over the next two years, most expect the improvements from agent use to be slight (14%) or at best moderate (52%)
- At 41% of organizations, teams aim to achieve this for most or all products in 18 months
- According to Stanford’s 2026 AI Index, AI is sprinting, and they're struggling to keep up
Summary
Software engineering has experienced two seismic shifts this century. Thus far, engineering teams have mainly used AI to assist with coding, testing, and other individual tasks, within tightly designed parameters. This report, which is based on a survey of 300 engineering and technology executives, finds that software engineering teams are seeing the potential in agentic AI and are beginning to put it to use, but so far in a mainly limited fashion. Adoption momentum is building. Early gains will be incremental.