JetBrains: readiness to delegate coding to AI jumped from 18% to 50% in a year

JetBrains' Developer Ecosystem research published October 19, 2026 shows readiness to delegate application logic code to AI rose from 18% to 50% in a year. At the same time, the share of developers expecting AI to fully replace human developers grew from 8% to nearly a quarter, with heavy AI agent users most convinced.

• Readiness to delegate test writing rose from 50% to 75%, refactoring from 38% to 60%
• Code review delegation reached 43% from 33%, debugging 46% from 24%
• 79% expect employers to require AI tool proficiency, up from 59% in 2024
• 37% of heavy AI agent users consider full developer replacement possible