The Impact of AI-Pair Programmers on Code Quality and Developer Satisfaction: Evidence from TiMi studio
Tianyi Chen · 2024
AI-pair programming is a novel approach to software development that involves a human developer and an AI assistant working together on the same code. AI-pair programming aims to improve the productivity, quality, and creativity of software development by leveraging the complementary strengths of human and AI agents. However, there is a lack of empirical evidence on its impact on code quality and developer satisfaction. In this paper, we conduct a case study of TiMi studio, a leading mobile game development studio group that has been using AI-pair programming tools since 2023, and has produced several popular and high-quality games. We collect and analyze data from code repositories, code reviews, developer surveys, and developer interviews, to measure and compare the code quality and developer satisfaction of AI-pair and non-AI-pair projects. The results show that AI-pair programming has a positive impact on code quality and developer satisfaction, as it offers various benefits, such as time-saving, error-avoiding, skill-learning, possibility-exploring, feedback-receiving, and quality-improving. The results also reveal some challenges, such as reliability-questioning, explainability-questioning, trust-lacking, communication-lacking, autonomy-losing, and motivation-losing, which need to be addressed and overcome by improving and enhancing the AI-pair programming tools and practices. The paper provides empirical and practical evidence on the impact of AI-pair programming on code quality and developer satisfaction, and provides useful and actionable insights and guidance for developers, managers, researchers, and educators, who are interested in or involved in AI-pair programming, and who want to improve and optimize their software development process and outcomes.