Nine out of 10 developers are excited about AI’s impact on their careers, and an overwhelming 96% expect it to change the developer experience for the better. Salesforce’s latest State of IT survey reveals that four in five IT leaders believe AI agents will become as essential to app development as traditional software tools.
The large global study of more than 2,000 software development leaders, along with a supplementary survey of 250 frontline developers in the United States, highlights nearly unanimous excitement about agentic AI.
Developers are not only looking to agents to unlock greater efficiency and productivity, but 92% believe agentic AI will help them advance in their careers. Some developers, however, believe that they, as well as their organisations, need more training and resources to build and deploy a digital workforce of AI agents.
Developers have often been painted as wary of AI, but this new research reveals developers are enthusiastic about the industry’s shift to AI agents. The arrival of agentic AI provides developers with the opportunity to focus less on tasks like writing code and debugging, growing instead into more strategic, high-impact work. And with developers increasingly using agents powered by low-code/no-code tools, development is becoming faster, easier, and more efficient than ever — regardless of coding abilities.
“AI agents are revolutionising the way developers work, making software development faster, more efficient, and more enjoyable. This powerful digital workforce streamlines development by assisting with writing, reviewing, and optimising code — unlocking new levels of productivity. By automating tedious tasks like data cleaning, integration, and basic testing, AI agents free developers to shift their focus from manual coding to high-value problem-solving, architecture, and strategic decision-making,” says Linda Saunders, country leader and senior director solutions engineering Africa at Salesforce.
Respondents are excited for agents to take on simple, repetitive tasks, freeing them up to focus on high-impact projects that contribute to larger business goals.
- 96% of developers are enthusiastic about AI agents’ impact on the developer experience.
- Developers are most eager to use AI agents for debugging and error resolution, than for generating test cases and building repetitive code.
Low-code or no-code tools help developers unlock greater productivity, regardless of coding skills
Agents powered by low-code or no-code tools are expected to help democratise and scale AI development for the better.
- 85% of developers using agentic AI currently use low-code/no-code tools.
- 77% of developers say that low-code/no-code tools can help democratise AI development.
- 78% of developers say that the use of low-code/no-code app development tools can help scale AI development.
Developers are eager for more resources to build AI agents
Developers say updated infrastructure and more testing capabilities and skilling opportunities are critical as they transition to building and deploying AI agents.
- Infrastructure needs: Many developers (82%) believe their organisation needs to update their infrastructure to build/deploy AI agents.
- Over half (56%) of developers say their data quality and accuracy isn’t sufficient for the successful development and implementation of agentic AI.
- Testing capabilities: Nearly half (48%) of developers say their testing processes aren’t fully prepared to build and deploy AI agents.
- Skills and knowledge: More than 80% of developers believe AI knowledge will soon be a baseline skill for their profession, but over half don’t feel their skillsets are fully prepared for the agentic era.
- Survey respondents identified training on technical AI skills and redefining current roles as the most important areas for employers to provide support.