TLDR: A recent study by digital travel platform Agoda indicates that 95% of developers in Southeast Asia and India utilize AI tools weekly, primarily for productivity gains. While adoption is widespread, usage for complex problem-solving and downstream development tasks remains less mature, with developers often relying on human oversight to ensure quality due to concerns about AI output reliability. A significant skills gap also exists, with most developers being self-taught.
A new report from digital travel platform Agoda highlights the pervasive integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools into the workflows of software developers across Southeast Asia and India. The ‘Agoda AI Developer Report 2025,’ which surveyed over 600 developers in Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines, Vietnam, and India, reveals that AI adoption is nearly universal in the region. An overwhelming 95% of developers reported using AI tools weekly, with more than half (56%) keeping an AI assistant open at all times during their work.
The primary driver for this widespread adoption is the pursuit of productivity and efficiency. Approximately 80% of surveyed developers cited speed and automation as their main motivations for using AI. These tools are delivering tangible benefits, with 37% of engineers reporting weekly time savings of four to six hours.
Despite high adoption rates, the study points to a ‘pragmatic optimism’ among developers, indicating that AI’s usage is still maturing. While 94% of developers leverage AI for code generation, its application drops significantly for downstream tasks such as documentation, testing, and deployment. This trend suggests a gap between utility and trust, as only 22% of developers rely on AI to solve unfamiliar problems, and less than half (43%) believe AI tools can perform at the level of a mid-level engineer.
Concerns over inconsistent or unreliable AI outputs are a significant barrier to broader usage, cited by 79% of developers. Consequently, rigorous human oversight and verification remain standard practice. The report found that 67% of developers review all AI-generated code before merging it into projects, and 70% routinely rework AI outputs to ensure correctness and quality. This emphasis on human validation is crucial, especially given that only one in four teams currently operates under formal AI policies.
Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer at Agoda, commented on these findings, stating, ‘Artificial intelligence is reshaping how developers across Southeast Asia and India build, learn, and collaborate.’ He added, ‘In this region, AI use is mainstream but still uneven. Developers are approaching AI with pragmatism—accelerating work, maintaining quality, and experimenting thoughtfully rather than replacing skill or judgment. The real opportunity lies in supporting this ground-up maturity with structured practices and responsible experimentation, turning high adoption into consistent, lasting capability.’
The report also identified a growing skills gap, with training struggling to keep pace with rapid AI advancements. A substantial 72% of developers are self-taught, acquiring AI skills through online tutorials and personal projects, while only 28% receive formal, employer-led AI training.
Also Read:
- Harness Report Reveals AI’s Dual Impact on Software Delivery and Developer Workload in 2025
- India Leads Asia-Pacific with 92% AI Adoption Rate, Driven by Confident Workforce and Strategic Leadership
Examples from the region showcase AI’s impact: Singapore-based marketplace Carousell’s engineers save four to five hours weekly using AI for tasks like product categorization and spam detection. In Vietnam, super-app MoMo utilizes Figma2Code to convert design files into mobile application code, drastically reducing component review times. Thailand’s SCB 10X employs its Thai large language model, Typhoon, alongside other AI tools to assist developers, saving them five to six hours per week.
