AI coding agents increase code production without improving software output

A study of engineering activity across more than 700,000 employees at over 700 software firms found that coding agents sharply increased lines of code, commits, and pull requests. Yet firms saw no statistically significant improvement in resolving tracked software issues or features. The researchers argue that longer reviews, revisions, and reviewer comments absorb much of the initial speedup. The analysis uses aggregated company data and statistical comparisons around AI adoption, so its measures are production proxies rather than a complete measure of software quality.


















