Reducing Alert Fatigue via AI-Assisted Negotiation: A Case for Dependabot

TL;DR

This paper advocates for AI agents as dependency negotiators in automated tools like Dependabot to reduce developer alert fatigue, emphasizing transparency and trust in software project management.

Contribution

It introduces the concept of AI-driven dependency negotiation to mitigate alert fatigue and discusses specific use cases and research needs for effective implementation.

Findings

Highlighting the potential of AI to reduce alert overload

Identifying key considerations for AI transparency and trust

Calling for further research on AI-mediated dependency management

Abstract

The increasing complexity of software dependencies has led to the emergence of automated dependency management tools, such as Dependabot. However, these tools often overwhelm developers with a high volume of alerts and notifications, leading to alert fatigue. This paper presents a position on using Artificial Intelligence (AI) agents as dependency negotiators to reduce alert fatigue. We then examine specific use cases where AI agents can facilitate dependency negotiations, such as when working with external dependencies or managing complex, multi-component systems. Our findings highlight the need for more research on the design and evaluation of AI-driven dependency mediation mechanisms. With a focus on ensuring transparency, explainability, and human trustworthiness in these GitHub software projects, our goal is to reduce alert fatigue to an extent that maintainers no longer feel overwhelmed and welcome pull requests just like any other contribution into their projects.