C++ survey finds AI use rising, though trust is in short supply

"39.8 percent of respondents use AI for writing code frequently, versus 30.9 percent last year. There is also more use of AI for other tasks such as writing tests (up from 20 to 33 percent) and for debugging (up from 11.5 to 23.6 percent)."

"42 percent (down from 52.7 percent last year) rarely or never use AI for coding or other tasks. Issues with AI (among both adopters and non-adopters) include incorrect output, lack of trust in the output, data privacy concerns, and the cost of AI tools."

"60.5 percent of respondents say they have more than 10 years' experience developing with C++, and 32.7 percent more than 20 years, so this is a mature crowd."

The Standard C++ Foundation's annual developer survey of 1,434 respondents reveals rapid growth in AI adoption among C++ programmers, with 39.8% frequently using AI for code writing, up from 30.9% last year. AI usage for testing and debugging also increased substantially. However, 42% of respondents rarely or never use AI, citing concerns including incorrect output, lack of trust, data privacy issues, and tool costs. The survey respondents represent an experienced, engaged subset of the C++ community, with over 60% having more than 10 years of development experience. Resistance to AI remains notable, with concerns about effectiveness on large projects and complex build systems.

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