State of the Front-end 2024: Reflection 3
Most engineers now use AI at work, half have incorporated it in applications
The Software House have just published their State of Front-end 2024 survey. These are my reflections.
It’s no surprise that most people (75.8%) now use AI at work daily. From code-writing assistants to knowledge searching, reviewing code, and creating content or graphics for documentation, AI has woven itself into our workflows seamlessly.
However, I was quite surprised to see that a significant percentage (24.2%) of engineers still don’t use AI at all. If you’re one of them, please get in touch. I’d love to hear why! What are your thoughts on this topic, and what keeps you from jumping on the wave🏄♂️ of AI hype?
AI deployed in applications
When it comes to AI use cases in applications, the usual suspects dominate: chatbots (32.4%), recommendations (21.6%), and content generation (20.1%). This makes me believe the term “AI” is used mostly to describe generative AI, rather than AI in general.
Interestingly, there’s only a small mention of other applications like computer vision, fraud detection, and funnel optimisation. I’d love to see a deeper breakdown of the various AI workflows, chains, and pipelines in production—what’s working, what’s experimental, and how are organisations dealing with safety and privacy.
The future
I belong to the 60.6% of engineers who believe AI will forever augment the work of frontend developers – it’s not just a passing trend (as 9.8% believe). Will AI replace most of our work entirely, as 20.1% predict? Maybe.
But perhaps our work will change completely: our roles, workflows, and the way we build might transform in ways we can’t yet imagine.
The question isn’t just, “Will AI take over?” – it’s, “How do we adapt and evolve to make the most of what it offers?” The future isn’t about competing with AI but collaborating with it to create something greater… or becoming subservient 😯.
