{
  "id": 8045747,
  "title": "Study: Developers are addicted to AI, and managers are making it worse",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/17/study-developers-are-addicted-to-ai-and-managers-are-making-it-worse",
  "topic": "ai",
  "section": "AI",
  "published": "2026-09-17T15:12:36.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "The New Stack",
    "slug": "the-new-stack",
    "url": "https://thenewstack.io/study-developers-are-addicted/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Developers are becoming increasingly dependent on AI coding tools, to the point where managers are inadvertently exacerbating the situation by rewarding those who use them most frequently. This \"AI coding addiction\" report, based on over 300 survey responses, reveals that 43% of developers struggle to stop using these tools despite their code often being poorly understood. Notably, developers using Codex reported the highest after-hours coding rates at 62%, suggesting their tool may be most conducive to the addictive \"stimulus/reward\" cycle. Despite this, managers tend to reward heavy AI users with raises and promotions, as they often produce more code, even if it's not fully understood. This behavior leads to developers sacrificing breaks, meals, and sleep to maintain their AI coding habits, which can result in tired, decision-making employees that negatively impact the organization. Managers must shift their focus from merely increasing code volume to rewarding the quality of decisions made during the software development process.",
  "summary": "AI is addictive, and managers are rewarding those who use it the most (even though they are shipping stuff they The post Study: Developers are addicted to AI, and managers are making it worse appeared first on The New Stack .",
  "key_points": [
    "43% of developers struggle to stop using AI coding tools despite poor code quality",
    "Developers using Codex have highest after-hours coding rates at 62%",
    "Managers reward heavy AI users with raises and promotions, encouraging addictive behavior"
  ],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}