Free report·
Progression of how developers engage with AI
88% of professional developers now work with ML/AI models, tools, APIs, or services.
This 31st edition of SlashData's State of the Developer Nation examines how professional software developers' engagement with AI evolved between Q1 2024 and Q1 2026. It establishes the overall state of AI engagement in Q1 2026, tracks how that picture has changed across six survey waves, and then focuses on developers adding AI functionality to applications to understand which model types they use. The report shows that working with AI has become mainstream, with non-use falling sharply over the past year. It distinguishes between lightweight usage, such as AI chatbots and AI-assisted development tools, and deeper engagement, such as customising, fine-tuning, and building models. It also documents where adoption is growing fastest and how the balance between open and proprietary models is shifting. The findings are aimed at vendors offering models, APIs, infrastructure, and deployment tools, and reinforce that developer engagement spans a range of maturity levels rather than one uniform audience.
/Key findings
- 88% of professional developers work with ML/AI models, tools, APIs, or services, while only 12% do not engage with AI in any way in Q1 2026.
- Non-use fell from 24% in Q1 2025 to 12% in Q1 2026 (and from 28% in Q1 2024), indicating a recent acceleration in adoption.
- The share of developers using AI-assisted tools rose from 61% to 79% over two years, with 53% using AI chatbots outside the coding environment and 42% using AI development tools or agents integrated into their coding environment.
- 32% of developers add AI functionality to their applications and 26% develop AI models or infrastructure; the combined group rose from 32% to 45%.
- Among developers embedding AI, open or open-source models remain the leading choice at 67%, while proprietary or closed-source models rose from 43% in Q3 2024 to 51% in Q1 2026.
/Questions this report answers
How many developers now work with AI?
As of Q1 2026, 88% of professional developers work with ML/AI models, tools, APIs, or services, meaning nearly nine in ten engage with AI in some form.
How fast is AI adoption growing among developers?
Non-use fell from 28% in Q1 2024 to 12% in Q1 2026, with most of the decline occurring in the past year, from 24% in Q1 2025.
What is the most common way developers interact with AI?
Using AI chatbots outside the coding environment to answer coding questions is the most common form, selected by 53% of developers, while 42% use AI-assisted development tools or agents in their coding environment.
Do developers prefer open or proprietary AI models when embedding AI into applications?
Open or open-source models remain the leading choice at 67% in Q1 2026, but proprietary or closed-source models are strengthening, rising from 43% in Q3 2024 to 51% in Q1 2026.
Are developers building their own AI models or using external ones?
Models built or trained by developers themselves or their teams fell from 25% in Q3 2024 to 21% in Q1 2026, suggesting most rely increasingly on external model ecosystems rather than building from scratch.
Where is AI adoption advancing fastest?
AI usage is growing fastest among developers at larger companies, while usage among freelancers and self-employed developers has remained relatively unchanged over the past two years.
/Who it's for
- AI model, API and infrastructure vendors shaping product messaging and onboarding for different levels of AI engagement
- Developer relations and marketing leads competing in a market where most developers already use AI tools
- Product strategy teams tracking the shift from lightweight AI usage towards implementation and model development