AI slows coders

Open source programmers took 19 percent more time to write code with artificial intelligence than without, a study released July 10 found.

That’s contrary to the conventional wisdom that artificial intelligence speeds up coding.

Sixteen experienced open source programmers participated in a randomized controlled trial in early 2025. The study involved only a handful of people, with specific skills using only a few of the available AI tools, and is hardly representative of the vast numbers of coders in the world. It doesn’t necessarily follow that AI will slow less-experienced programmers or programmers working on different code. The AI models also continue to improve.

Still, it’s a welcome counter to AI hype.