Majority of software developers in SE Asia, India use AI

Prioritise speed and quality over full automation

Artificial intelligence (AI) adoption is high among software developers in Southeast Asia and India, but its usage is still maturing, according to new research released by digital travel platform Agoda.

The study shows that developers use it pragmatically to accelerate work without compromising quality, while organisations face the challenge of putting in place the policies, practices, and frameworks needed to support the next phase of AI evolution in the region. 

Drawing on extensive input from the developer community across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and India, and drawing insights from leading regional companies such as Carousell, MoMo, Omise, and SCB 10x, the report highlights three interconnected findings on AI adoption across Southeast Asia and India: 

Across Southeast Asia and India, AI has become a daily companion in developer workflows. 95% of developers use AI weekly, and 56% always keep an AI assistant open. 

Productivity drives adoption, with 80% citing speed and automation as their main motivation. Engineers are seeing tangible results, with 37% saving four to six hours per week. 

Yet AI remains primarily a productivity tool rather than a creative partner. Only 22% use it to solve unfamiliar problems, and less than half (43%) believe it can perform at the level of a mid-level engineer. While 94% rely on AI for code generation, usage drops for downstream tasks such as documentation, testing, and deployment. 

This highlights a gap between use and reliability, pointing to the need for more consistent, dependable results. 

Oversight and verification are increasingly embedded in daily AI workflows. Meanwhile, 79% of developers cite inconsistent or unreliable outputs as the primary barrier to broader AI use. 

To maintain quality, 67% review all AI-generated code before merging, and 70% routinely rework outputs to ensure correctness. 

Formal policies are still rare; only one in four teams operate under official AI guidelines. Yet reliability continues to improve through team-led reviews and validation processes. 

This focus on verification doesn’t slow innovation; it strengthens it, allowing developers to move faster while keeping quality high. Most (72%) developers report clear productivity gains and better code outcomes, proving that human oversight remains central to responsible AI adoption. 

With adoption now near universal, the focus has shifted to how developers use AI responsibly and effectively. 

Most developers are self-taught, 71% learning through tutorials, side projects, or online communities, while only 28% receive employer-led training. Access to structured programs also varies by market: developers in Singapore are almost twice as likely as those in Vietnam to have formal AI training programs. 

Despite these gaps, developers are driving their own growth. As many as 87% have adjusted their learning or career plans to leverage AI, and 62% expect it to expand career opportunities, laying the foundation for stronger, long-term capability across the region. 

This self-directed growth reflects a workforce learning faster than organizations can train, ambitious, experimental, and increasingly AI-literate. 

“Artificial intelligence is reshaping how developers across Southeast Asia and India build, learn, and collaborate,” said Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer at Agoda. “

What began 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 judgment. 

“The real opportunity lies in supporting this ground-up maturity with structured practices and responsible experimentation, turning high adoption into consistent, lasting capability.”