Measuring the actual impact of AI coding (Friends)

The Changelog: Software Development, Open Source

Abi Noda from DX is back to share some cold, hard data on just how productive AI coding tools are actually making developers. Teaser: the productivity increase isn’t as high as we expected. We also discuss Jevons paradox, AI agents as extensions of humans, which tools are winning in the enterprise, how development budgets are changing, and more.

Join the discussion

Changelog++ members save 5 minutes on this episode because they made the ads disappear. Join today!

Sponsors:

• Auth0 – The identity infrastructure for the age of AI. Built by developers, for developers—Auth0 helps you secure users, agents, and third-party access across modern AI workflows. Token vaulting, fine-grained authorization, and standards-based auth, all in one platform.
  Start building at Auth0.com/ai
• Depot – 10x faster builds? Yes please. Build faster. Waste less time. Accelerate Docker image builds, and GitHub Actions workflows. Easily integrate with your existing CI provider and dev workflows to save hours of build time.
• Outshift by Cisco – AGNTCY is an open source collective building the Internet of Agents. It’s a collaboration layer where AI agents can communicate, discover each other, and work across frameworks. For developers, this means standardized agent discovery tools, seamless protocols for inter-agent communication, and modular components to compose and scale multi-agent workflows.

Featuring:

• Abi Noda – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn
• Jerod Santo – GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X
• Adam Stacoviak – Website, GitHub, LinkedIn, Mastodon, X

Show Notes:

• Measuring AI code assistants and agents
• DX Core 4 Reporting
• Jevons paradox - Wikipedia

Something missing or broken? PRs welcome!

Chapters

1. Let's talk! (00:00:00)

2. Sponsor: Auth0 (00:00:38)

https://auth0.com/ai

3. Obsolesence & Friends (00:02:07)

4. What the data says (00:06:05)

5. Talk about the fun (00:10:17)

6. Not alone (00:11:35)

7. Productivity theories (00:18:50)

8. Sponsor: Depot (00:23:14)

https://depot.dev

9. Which AI tools are winning (00:25:23)

10. The affect on DX (00:27:24)

11. The great divide (00:29:40)

12. Jevons paradox (00:31:11)

13. How to measure agents (00:34:59)

14. The right ratio (00:36:40)

15. New bottlenecks (00:38:30)

16. Sponsor: Outshift by Cisco (00:40:13)

https://agntcy.org

17. How to budget (00:41:16)

18. Agents unlock more (00:45:19)

19. Don't call it happiness (00:47:26)

20. DX's adoption strategy (00:51:33)

21. Product opportunities (00:53:33)

22. A new platform war (00:59:27)

23. Predictions (01:00:43)

24. Bye, friends (01:02:01)

25. Closing thoughts (01:02:32)

https://changelog.com/live