{"id":24088,"date":"2025-11-03T12:59:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T11:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/?post_type=sic_news&p=24088"},"modified":"2025-11-12T14:23:50","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T13:23:50","slug":"software-when-using-ai-assistants","status":"publish","type":"sic_news","link":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/","title":{"rendered":"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When writing program code, software developers often work in pairs\u2014a practice that reduces errors and encourages knowledge sharing. Increasingly, AI assistants are now being used for this role. But this shift in working practice isn\u2019t without its drawbacks, as a new empirical study by computer scientists in Saarbr\u00fccken reveals. Developers tend to scrutinize AI-generated code less critically and they learn less from it. These findings will be presented at a major scientific conference in Seoul.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

When two software developers collaborate on a programming project\u2014known in technical circles as ‘pair programming’\u2014it tends to yield a significant improvement in the quality of the resulting software. \u2018Developers can often inspire one another and help avoid problematic solutions. They can also share their expertise, thus ensuring that more people in their organization are familiar with the codebase,\u2019 explains Sven Apel, professor of computer science at Saarland University. Together with his team, Apel has examined whether this collaborative approach works equally well when one of the partners is an AI assistant. In the study, 19 students with programming experience were divided into pairs: six worked with a human partner, while seven collaborated with an AI assistant. The methodology for measuring knowledge transfer was developed by Niklas Schneider as part of his Bachelor\u2019s thesis.<\/p>\n

For the study, the researchers used GitHub Copilot, an AI-powered coding assistant introduced by Microsoft in 2021, which, like similar products from other companies, has now been widely adopted by software developers. These tools have significantly changed how software is written. ‘It enables faster development and the generation of large volumes of code in a short time. But this also makes it easier for mistakes to creep in unnoticed, with consequences that may only surface later on,’ says Sven Apel. The team wanted to understand which aspects of human collaboration enhance programming and whether these can be replicated in human-AI pairings. Participants were tasked with developing algorithms and integrating them into a shared project environment.<\/p>\n

‘Knowledge transfer is a key part of pair programming,’ Apel explains. ‘Developers will continuously discuss current problems and work together to find solutions. This does not involve simply asking and answering questions, it also means that the developers share effective programming strategies and volunteer their own insights.’ According to the study, such exchanges also occurred in the AI-assisted teams\u2014but the interactions were less intense and covered a narrower range of topics. ‘In many cases, the focus was solely on the code,’ says Apel. ‘By contrast, human programmers working together were more likely to digress and engage in broader discussions and were less focused on the immediate task.<\/p>\n

One finding particularly surprised the research team: \u2018The programmers who were working with an AI assistant were more likely to accept AI-generated suggestions without critical evaluation. They assumed the code would work as intended,\u2019 says Apel. \u2018The human pairs, in contrast, were much more likely to ask critical questions and were more inclined to carefully examine each other\u2019s contributions,’ explains Apel. He believes this tendency to trust AI more readily than human colleagues may extend to other domains as well. \u2018I think it has to do with a certain degree of complacency\u2014a tendency to assume the AI\u2019s output is probably good enough, even though we know AI assistants can also make mistakes.\u2019 Apel warns that this uncritical reliance on AI could lead to the accumulation of ‘technical debt\u2019, which can be thought of as the hidden costs of the future work needed to correct these mistakes, thereby complicating the future development of the software.<\/p>\n

For Apel, the study highlights the fact that AI assistants are not yet capable of replicating the richness of human collaboration in software development. \u2018They are certainly useful for simple, repetitive tasks,\u2019 says Apel. \u2018But for more complex problems, knowledge exchange is essential\u2014and that currently works best between humans, possibly with AI assistants as supporting tools.’ Apel emphasizes the need for further research into how humans and AI can collaborate effectively while still retaining the kind of critical eye that characterizes human collaboration.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Alisa

Alisa Welter, doctoral candidate at the Chair of Software Engineering at Saarland University and lead author of the study<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Alisa Welter, a PhD student in Apel\u2019s group and first author of the article, will present the findings at the 40th IEEE\/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering\u2014one of the top three conferences in the field. The conference will take place from November\u00a016 to 20 in Seoul, South Korea. Out of the approximately 1,200 papers submitted to the conference, only 150 were accepted for presentation.<\/p>\n

The study was funded by the European Union through the ERC Advanced Grant \u2018Brains On Code\u2019 (see press release from April\u00a026, 2022):\u00a0https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/piece-of-news\/brains-on-code\/<\/a><\/p>\n

Further information:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Empirical study:<\/strong>https:\/\/www.se.cs.uni-saarland.de\/publications\/docs\/WSD+.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

40th IEEE\/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/conf.researchr.org\/home\/ase-2025<\/a>\u00a0with a\u00a0brief abstract of the paper from the conference website<\/a><\/p>\n

Software Engineering research group at Saarland University:<\/strong><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.se.cs.uni-saarland.de<\/a><\/p>\n

Questions can be addressed to:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Professor Sven Apel
\nProfessor of Computer Science at Saarland University
\nTel.: +49 681 302-57211
\nEmail:\u00a0apel(at)cs.uni-saarland.de<\/a><\/p>\n

Alisa Welter
\nPhD student in the Software Engineering research group
\nEmail: welter(at)cs.uni-saarland.de<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When writing program code, software developers often work in pairs—a practice that reduces errors and encourages knowledge sharing. Increasingly, AI assistants are now being used for this role. But this shift in working practice isn’t without its drawbacks, as a new empirical study by computer scientists in Saarbrücken reveals. Developers tend to scrutinize AI-generated code […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":24089,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":""},"sic_news-types":[59,60],"class_list":["post-24088","sic_news","type-sic_news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","sic_news-types-press-release-en","sic_news-types-uds-en"],"yoast_head":"\nSoftware developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants - Saarland Informatics Campus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A Saarbr\u00fccken study shows that developers learn and question code less critically when pairing with AI assistants instead of human partners.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants - Saarland Informatics Campus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A Saarbr\u00fccken study shows that developers learn and question code less critically when pairing with AI assistants instead of human partners.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saarland Informatics Campus\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sic.informatik.saarland\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-12T13:23:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2560\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1442\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/\",\"name\":\"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants - Saarland Informatics Campus\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-03T11:59:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-12T13:23:50+00:00\",\"description\":\"A Saarbr\u00fccken study shows that developers learn and question code less critically when pairing with AI assistants instead of human partners.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":1442,\"caption\":\"Prof. Sven Apel, photographed on September 23, 2019. Photo: Oliver Dietze -- Publication only after prior agreement on fees and with attribution. Oliver Dietze \\\/\\\/ +49-(0)177-9761996 \\\/\\\/ post@oliverdietze.de \\\/\\\/ VAT ID DE262797891\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/piece-of-news\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"name\":\"Saarland Informatics Campus\",\"description\":\"in Saarbr\u00fccken, Germany\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Saarland Informatics Campus\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/SIC_logo_1453x343.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/SIC_logo_1453x343.png\",\"width\":1453,\"height\":343,\"caption\":\"Saarland Informatics Campus\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\\\/en\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/sic.informatik.saarland\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/bsky.app\\\/profile\\\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/saarland_informatics_campus\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/channel\\\/UCaDDK5m9CGCzE4xhZTFC6cA\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/saarland-informatics-campus\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants - Saarland Informatics Campus","description":"A Saarbr\u00fccken study shows that developers learn and question code less critically when pairing with AI assistants instead of human partners.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants - Saarland Informatics Campus","og_description":"A Saarbr\u00fccken study shows that developers learn and question code less critically when pairing with AI assistants instead of human partners.","og_url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/","og_site_name":"Saarland Informatics Campus","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sic.informatik.saarland\/","article_modified_time":"2025-11-12T13:23:50+00:00","og_image":[{"width":2560,"height":1442,"url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/","url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/","name":"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants - Saarland Informatics Campus","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-03T11:59:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-12T13:23:50+00:00","description":"A Saarbr\u00fccken study shows that developers learn and question code less critically when pairing with AI assistants instead of human partners.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/Apel_Sven_en-scaled-e1762949380755.jpg","width":2560,"height":1442,"caption":"Prof. Sven Apel, photographed on September 23, 2019. Photo: Oliver Dietze -- Publication only after prior agreement on fees and with attribution. Oliver Dietze \/\/ +49-(0)177-9761996 \/\/ post@oliverdietze.de \/\/ VAT ID DE262797891"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/software-when-using-ai-assistants\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/piece-of-news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Software developers show less constructive scepticism when using AI assistants"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/","name":"Saarland Informatics Campus","description":"in Saarbr\u00fccken, Germany","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/#organization","name":"Saarland Informatics Campus","url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/SIC_logo_1453x343.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/SIC_logo_1453x343.png","width":1453,"height":343,"caption":"Saarland Informatics Campus"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sic.informatik.saarland\/","https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/saarland-informatics-campus.de","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/saarland_informatics_campus\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCaDDK5m9CGCzE4xhZTFC6cA","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/saarland-informatics-campus"]}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sic_news\/24088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sic_news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/sic_news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"sic_news-types","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saarland-informatics-campus.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sic_news-types?post=24088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}