Generative AI and the Future of Professional Software Development: Survey Findings from Finland
TL;DR
A qualitative analysis of 100 respondents' perspectives on the future role of generative AI in professional software development, based on the responses to two optional open-ended questions, offers a practitioner-centred snapshot of how software professionals currently reason about the effects of generative AI on roles, skills, productivity, software quality, and the sustainability of expertise in the field.
Abstract
In recent years, it has become common for generative AI-based software development tools to be experimented with, adopted, and used in professional software development. To understand the effects of this generative AI transformation in the Finnish context, we conducted a survey targeting software professionals working in Finland. 163 survey responses were collected during two months, from December 2025 to February 2026. In this paper, we report a qualitative analysis of 100 respondents' perspectives on the future role of generative AI in professional software development, based on the responses to two optional open-ended questions in the survey. The results offer a practitioner-centred snapshot of how software professionals currently reason about the effects of generative AI on roles, skills, productivity, software quality, and the sustainability of expertise in the field.