The Impact of AI on Developer Productivity: Evidence from GitHub Copilot

Generative AI tools hold promise to increase human productivity. This paper presents results from a controlled experiment with GitHub Copilot, an AI pair programmer. Recruited software developers were asked to implement an HTTP server in JavaScript as quickly as possible. The treatment group, with a...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:arXiv.org 2023-02
Main Authors: Sida Peng, Kalliamvakou, Eirini, Cihon, Peter, Demirer, Mert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Productivity
Software development
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Generative AI tools hold promise to increase human productivity. This paper presents results from a controlled experiment with GitHub Copilot, an AI pair programmer. Recruited software developers were asked to implement an HTTP server in JavaScript as quickly as possible. The treatment group, with access to the AI pair programmer, completed the task 55.8% faster than the control group. Observed heterogenous effects show promise for AI pair programmers to help people transition into software development careers.
ISSN:2331-8422