Selling Shovels in the LLM Gold Rush: Why Software Engineering Research Risks Missing the Real Transformation.
Önder Babur, Sébastien Mosser, Alfonso Pierantonio · The Journal of Object Technology · 2026
The rapid adoption of Large Language Models (LLMs) is reshaping software engineering practice at an unprecedented pace. While research on LLM-based software engineering is flourishing, much of it emphasizes frameworks, roadmaps, and conceptual models that are easy to articulate and evaluate, yet increasingly detached from the realities of sustained, large-scale use. This editorial argues that a growing gap is emerging between how LLMs are studied in software engineering research and how they are actually engineered and operated in industrial settings. Key distinctions related to scale, cost, duration of use, and organizational impact are often left implicit, leading to a focus on tactical performance improvements whileoverlooking the strategic transformation of software production. We discuss the risks of accompanying and proxy research, examine their implications for research credibility, industrial relevance, and education, and propose concrete steps toward greater proximity between research discourse and engineering reality. Without such proximity, software engineering researchrisks talking about the transformation rather than helping to shape it.