84% of developers use AI, yet most don’t trust it!

Artificial intelligence now tightly shapes the future of coding, but developers aren’t unthinkingly buying into the hype.

In its 2025 Developer Survey, Stack Overflow collected responses from more than 49.000 developers across 177 countries, offering a comprehensive look into how developers navigate the AI-infused landscape.

The verdict? AI tools are everywhere, but skepticism is growing.

AI is now embedded in daily dev life like a co-pilot

This year’s headline stat is hard to ignore: 84% of respondents now use or plan to use AI tools, a notable jump from 76% in 2024. Even more telling, 51% of professional developers say they rely on AI tools daily. That’s not a sidekick, that’s a co-pilot.

But even as adoption soars, trust plummets.

AI use rises, trust falls

The most striking contradiction in the data? 46% of developers say they don’t trust the accuracy of AI output, up sharply from 31% last year. Fewer than one-third (33%) trust it, and only 3% report “high trust” in the results.

Among professional developers, trust is even more elusive. 2.6% of experienced devs claim to “highly trust” AI output, while 20% express outright “high distrust.” Verification is still king, especially in roles where accountability and precision matter.

The growing lack of trust in AI tools stood out to us as the key data point in this year’s survey, especially given the increased pace of growth and adoption of these AI tools. AI is a powerful tool, but it has significant risks of misinformation or can lack complexity or relevance.

– Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO, Stack Overflow

AI code that’s ‘almost right’ hurts productivity

When AI helps, it helps a lot – but when it fails, it fails just enough to create more work. A complete 66% of developers say they struggle with AI solutions that are close, but ultimately miss the mark. That leads to one of the most cited pain points: debugging AI-generated code, which 45% of developers say takes longer than writing it themselves.

Meanwhile, positive sentiment toward AI tools has declined. In 2023 and 2024, over 70% of developers had a favorable opinion. In 2025? That’s dropped to 60%, with professionals still more favorable (61%) than those still learning to code (53%).

GPT dominates dev workflows – for now

Despite misgivings, many developers still lean on AI to upskill. More than 36% of respondents report using AI-enabled tools to advance their careers or build new skills over the past year.

Unsurprisingly, OpenAI’s GPT models dominate the LLM space, with 82% of developers using them for software development tasks in the past year. Meanwhile, Anthropic’s Claude Sonnet models are gaining traction, particularly among professional developers (45%) compared to 30% of those learning to code.

The majority of developers avoid agents, prefer simpler tools

While LLMs are standard, AI agents have yet to become widespread. A majority – 52% of developers – say they don’t use agents or stick to simpler tools, and 38% have no plans to try AI agents anytime soon.

But among those using them, the productivity payoff is clear: 69% say AI agents improved their workflow, 70% report reduced time on specific tasks. However, there’s a caveat: only 17% believe AI agents have improved team collaboration, making it the lowest-rated impact.

“Vibe coding” is a thing now, but not a serious one (yet)

Yes, developers are experimenting with “vibe coding”, prompting an LLM to generate entire applications or components. But don’t expect it in your production repo just yet: 77% of developers say vibe coding is not part of their professional workflow.

Instead, human interaction still dominates the developer’s problem-solving toolkit: 84% use Stack Overflow, 67% rely on GitHub, 61% go to YouTube, and here’s the kicker: 35% of developers turn to Stack Overflow specifically after AI-generated code fails. So, while AI is a flashy assistant, the dev community’s crowd-sourced wisdom still runs the show.

Dev happiness is (barely) up, and so is the salary gap

After a steep morale dip in 2024, developer happiness is starting to recover, though only slightly. This year, 24% of developers say they’re happy at work, up from 20% last year. It’s progress, but just barely. So what’s driving this uptick? Money, most likely.

Targeted salary increases in key roles are making a difference, but not for everyone. Despite having similar levels of experience (an average of 20 years), there’s a wide pay gap depending on title: Senior Executives and Engineering Managers report median salaries of $130K+.

Meanwhile, Founders, Architects, and Product Managers trail behind at $92K-$104K. This is a reminder that title and structure matter, even among highly experienced developers.

Remote work isn’t dead, but it’s far from equal

Work location flexibility also affects job satisfaction, but it’s unevenly distributed, as with salaries. In the United States, a strong 45% of developers now work entirely remotely. In Germany, just 21% report having the freedom to choose between remote and office work. The takeaway? Remote work is still alive and well, but your access to it depends heavily on geography and employer culture.