Most developers in Southeast Asia and India use AI tools

While nearly all developers in Southeast Asia and India are using artificial intelligence (AI) tools in their work, they continue to face challenges associated with the use of the technology, a new study by digital travel platform Agoda has found.

According to Agoda’s AI developer report 2025, 95% of developers surveyed use AI every week, driven primarily by the need to speed up software development, with 37% of engineers saving four to six hours per week.

However, only 22% use AI tools to solve unfamiliar problems, and just 43% believe the tools can perform at the level of a mid-level engineer. And while 94% use AI to generate code, usage drops for downstream tasks such as documentation, testing, and deployment.

Such behaviour has led to a culture of “pragmatic optimism”, the report noted, where developers use AI as a productivity tool but rely on human oversight to ensure quality. Indeed, 67% of developers review all AI-generated code before merging, and 70% routinely correct outputs.

That developers are reviewing AI outputs is critical, given that about 60% of organisations have no formal AI policy. Nearly three in four (72%) developers reported productivity gains and better code outcomes from team-led reviews and validation processes, proving that human oversight remains key to responsible AI adoption.

Despite the keen adoption of AI among developers, the report identified a growing skills gap, with training struggling to keep pace. Most developers (72%) are self-taught, picking up AI skills through online tutorials and personal projects. Only 28% receive formal, employer-led AI training.

The report noted that access to structured training varies by market. In Singapore, developers are almost twice more likely than those in Vietnam to have access to formal AI training programmes. The result is a workforce that’s not only learning faster than organisations can teach, but also self-propelled and increasingly independent, it added.

Developers are also under pressure to keep up. In Singapore, 44% of developers worry about falling behind if they don’t adapt to AI’s pace of change, and 58% of all respondents now believe AI proficiency should be a baseline hiring requirement.

“AI is reshaping how developers across Southeast Asia and India build, learn, and collaborate,” said Idan Zalzberg, chief technology officer at Agoda. “What began as a way to speed up tasks like writing, testing, or debugging code has grown into a broader shift in how software is built. Today, AI helps teams move faster, learn continuously, and solve problems in new ways.

“In this region, AI use is mainstream but still uneven. Developers are approaching AI with pragmatism – accelerating work, maintaining quality, and experimenting thoughtfully rather than replacing skill or judgement. The real opportunity lies in supporting this ground-up maturity with structured practices and responsible experimentation, turning high adoption into consistent, lasting capability,” he added.