New Techreviewer.co Research: 89% of Software Companies Now Use AI to Write Code, but 90% Report at Least One Downside
The third annual study of 127 software development firms reports record productivity gains, but also highlights
Press Release Disclaimer: This is a press release distributed through the XPR Media network. It has not been independently verified by our newsroom.
Techreviewer.co, a B2B research and ratings platform for technology service providers, has released its third annual research on AI use in software development, polling 127 companies worldwide.
The study shows that 89% of software development companies now use AI to write or assist with code, with the median company reporting that AI manages 26% to 50% of its codebase. About one in four companies say AI produces more than half of their code, and 62.2% report daily AI use by most or all developers. On average, companies use four AI tools simultaneously. Claude/Claude Code leads adoption at 93.7%, followed by ChatGPT/OpenAI tools (77.2%), Google Gemini (58.3%), GitHub Copilot (57.5%), and Cursor (52.0%).
Nearly 97% of respondents reported productivity gains from AI, with no company reporting a decline in any of the past three years. The proportion of companies reporting gains above 50% has increased from 7.5% in 2024 to 30.7% in 2026.
However, about 90% of companies reported at least one downside. More than half (52.8%) cited hallucinated or incorrect AI suggestions, 44.1% noted increased code review workload, and 33.1% experienced security or vulnerability issues in AI-generated code. Over a third (37.0%) identified over-reliance on AI or skill erosion, especially among junior developers, which is now a more common concern than technical debt (23.6%) or increased defects (22.0%). Data privacy and security were the top implementation challenges, cited by 58.3% of respondents, while 15.0% reported having no formal AI training strategy.
Companies are increasingly building AI expertise internally. In-house training rose from 57.5% in 2024 to 72.4% in 2026, while hiring AI specialists declined from 35.0% to 15.0%. Nearly all respondents (97.7%) expect AI’s role in development to continue growing over the next five years.
The full report, methodology and expert commentary are available at: https://techreviewer.co/research/ai-in-software-development-in-2026
About Techreviewer.co
Techreviewer.co is a B2B research and ratings platform that helps businesses evaluate and connect with software development, IT services, and AI technology providers.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260910769051/en/
Media gallery
