Abstract: The latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovations are reshaping the developer experience—not only in how code is written but also in how developers comprehend complex systems, create innovative solutions, collaborate with peers, and engage in communities of practice. In this keynote, I will explore what we can learn from AI’s adoption in industry and early research while drawing on human and social theories to help shape AI’s role in software development. By examining real-world experience reports and early research, I will discuss how emerging trends reveal both exciting possibilities and new challenges. AI has the potential to accelerate problem-solving, streamline coding, and expand access to knowledge, yet it also raises concerns about over-reliance, shifts in creativity, and changes in team dynamics. Beyond these immediate impacts, we must take a deeper look—leveraging insights from cognitive science, human-computer interaction, and social learning theories to understand AI’s broader implications. By integrating perspectives from industry practice, academic research, and human-centered theories, this talk will offer a critical lens on AI’s evolving role in software engineering. More importantly, it will challenge us—not just to consider where AI is taking us, but to actively shape its design in ways that enhance human intelligence, creativity, and collaboration in software development.

Margaret-Anne Storey is a Professor of Computer Science and a Canada Research Chair in Human and Social Aspects of Software Engineering. Together with her students and collaborators, she seeks to understand how software tools, communication media, data visualizations, and social theories can be leveraged to improve how software engineers and knowledge workers explore, understand, analyze and share complex information and knowledge. She has published widely on these topics and collaborates extensively with high-tech companies and non-profit organizations to ensure real-world applicability of her research contributions and tools. Dr. Storey currently advises companies that include Microsoft and DX on strategies to understand and improve developer productivity and developer experience.