AI and Programming: How artificial intelligence has transformed the work of every developer

If there is one area where AI has produced a visible, tangible, and measurable change in the past two years, it is programming. We are not talking about a modest helper who occasionally suggests a line of code. We are talking about a profound transformation of the way software is written, tested, and delivered. At Altanet Craiova We believe that anyone who works with technology – not just programmers – should understand this change.

The numbers that show the extent of the change

GitHub – the world's largest code platform, used by tens of millions of programmers – has published data that shows exactly how much the activity has changed in the past year:

• 43 million pull requests per month – an increase of 23% over the previous year. A pull request is, in short, a proposal to modify a program, sent to colleagues for review.
• 1 billion code contributions per year – an increase of 25% compared to 2024.
• GitHub introduced „"intelligence repository"” – a feature that allows AI to understand not just the code in a file, but the entire history and structure of a software project.

Mario Rodriguez, director at GitHub, sums up the direction well: „"AI will understand not just the code, but the relationships and history behind it."”

What tools will programmers use in 2026?

The market for AI programming tools has exploded. Here are the most used in 2026:

• GitHub Copilot: the AI assistant integrated directly into the code editor, which suggests lines or entire program blocks in real time as the programmer writes.
• OpenAI Codex: a complete programming agent orchestration system – it doesn't just suggest code, it can take a task described in text and solve it autonomously, step by step.
• Cursor: a code editor built from the ground up around AI, valued at $9 billion in 2025. It has become the preferred tool of many independent programmers.
• Qwen3-Coder-Next (Alibaba): the Chinese open source model specialized in writing code, competitive with the best commercial options.

How much has productivity changed?

The graph below shows the evolution of the main activity indicators on GitHub, powered by AI tools:

What takes hours now takes weeks

The biggest impact is not seen in statistics, but in the daily experience of programmers. Tasks that used to take days – writing automated tests, documenting code, migrating from one technology to another – are now solved in hours or even minutes with the help of AI.

A concrete example: a programmer who needs to integrate a new service into an existing application would previously spend days reading documentation, writing connection code, and troubleshooting bugs. In 2026, they describe what they need in natural language, and the AI agent generates the code, tests it, and flags any issues – all in a matter of hours.

But the role of the programmer is not disappearing – it is transforming

A natural question: if AI writes code, will programmers still be needed? The answer is yes – but their role is changing. The programmer of 2026 spends less time writing lines of code and more time:

• Defining the problems – clearly explaining what a system should do, not how to do it.
• Verifying and validating – the code generated by AI must be understood, tested and approved by a human.
• Orchestrating agents – coordinating multiple AI agents working in parallel on different parts of a project.

What's next?

Estimates show that by 2027, 80% from the production code will be generated or reviewed with the help of AI. Programmers will increasingly become architects and supervisors of systems, not line-by-line code writers.

If your company develops software or collaborates with programming teams and you want to understand how AI tools can accelerate deliveries and reduce costs, the team Altanet Craiova can help you with a concrete evaluation. Visit our website contact and let's discuss.

This article is part of Altanet's series on AI trends in 2026. Next article: AI as a Workforce: When the Digital Agent Becomes the Employee of the Month. See also the complete guide to the series.