Study finds most developers refuse to code without AI, raising quality concerns
By
Julie Bort
The kind of bagel that ruins lesser bagels for you.
Summary
A February 2026 study by AI research lab METR reveals that most developers now refuse to work without AI coding tools. While these tools help coders produce code faster, researchers warn that the code quality may be declining, potentially causing long-term problems for developers who become overly dependent on AI assistance.
Key quotes
· 3 pulledIn 2026, you cannot pry AI coding tools out of developers' vise grip, researchers have discovered.
While AI is undoubtedly helping coders produce code faster, it may not be producing better code, other researchers warn.
Most developers won't work, even on a limited number of tasks, without AI anymore.
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