The Evolution of Information Seeking in Software Development: Understanding the Role and Impact of AI Assistants

TL;DR

This study explores how AI assistants influence software developers' information-seeking behaviors, highlighting increased efficiency but also emphasizing the need for foundational knowledge to maximize benefits and mitigate risks.

Contribution

It provides new insights into AI-assisted information seeking in software development, emphasizing its impact on productivity and skill development.

Findings

AI tools increase developers' efficiency in information seeking

Effective use of AI requires foundational developer knowledge

AI tools influence learning and skill development processes

Abstract

About 32% of a software practitioners' day involves seeking and using information to support task completion. Although the information needs of software practitioners have been studied extensively, the impact of AI-assisted tools on their needs and information-seeking behaviors remains largely unexplored. To addresses this gap, we conducted a mixed-method study to understand AI-assisted information seeking behavior of practitioners and its impact on their perceived productivity and skill development. We found that developers are increasingly using AI tools to support their information seeking, citing increased efficiency as a key benefit. Our findings also amplify caveats that come with effectively using AI tools for information seeking, especially for learning and skill development, such as the importance of foundational developer knowledge that can guide and inform the information provided by AI tools. Our efforts have implications for the effective integration of AI tools into developer workflows as information retrieval systems and learning aids.