- Nearly 9 out of 10 developers in Southeast Asia and India say they use AI weekly, reporting measurable productivity gains
- Only 43% believe AI can currently perform at the quality of a mid-level engineer
- 79% cite inconsistent output as the biggest barrier to deeper AI integration, even more so than concerns about access, cost, and tools.
- The Philippines (88%) and Thailand (84%) have the highest concerns about output reliability. Even mature markets like Singapore (77%) and Malaysia (73%) remain cautious.
Singapore, February 3, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Developers in Southeast Asia and India are using AI at scale, but trust in its reliability is not yet fully mature, according to findings from Agoda’s AI Developer Report 2025. Although AI has become a regular part of software development workflows, many engineers remain cautious and treat AI as an accelerator rather than a reliable replacement for human judgment. AI adoption is now spreading across the region. Nearly 9 out of 10 developers say they use AI weekly, and most report measurable productivity gains. However, reliability has not kept up with usage.
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Only 43% believe AI can currently function at the level of an intermediate engineer, highlighting the continued gap between adoption and trust. In fact, several major markets are more skeptical than the regional average, including Thailand (48%), India (47%), the Philippines (45%) and Singapore (44%).
In these markets, there is a further loss of confidence on the part of developers who believe that it is impossible for AI to match the quality of mid-level developers today. This view is most pronounced in the Philippines (11%), followed by Singapore (7%), Vietnam (7%), Thailand (7%) and India (5%). This shows that for many developers, the trust gap has widened beyond temporary hesitation.
Inconsistent output remains the biggest concern. 79% of developers cite unreliable results as the biggest barrier to deeper AI integration, even more than concerns about access, cost, or tools. This challenge is most acute in markets such as the Philippines (88%) and Thailand (84%), where concerns about output reliability are highest. Even in more mature AI markets like Singapore (77%) and Malaysia (73%), inconsistent results continue to undermine trust and increase the need for human oversight.
In response, developers adjusted their workflows to maintain quality. Two-thirds report that they always review AI-generated code before merging it, and many regularly rework the output until it meets production standards.
The report found that the use of AI reduces accountability, but instead places more emphasis on reviews and human oversight. Verification and ownership become more important in day-to-day development work, and engineers remain accountable for the end result. For now, confidence is conditional, not something assumed by default, but built through repetition, testing, and experience.
“The next differentiator will not be who adopts AI first, but who builds a clear framework for consistent and productive use around it,” said Idan Salzberg, chief technology officer at Agoda. “Southeast Asia and India’s strength lies in their speed and adaptability. While developers are advancing AI adoption through peer oversight and disciplined practices, the next step is to combine that momentum with increased trust in AI’s capabilities.”
This finding suggests that AI maturity can no longer be defined by adoption alone. Productivity gains are visible, but reliability only increases when output is consistent and predictable. Teams with strong review habits report higher confidence, while teams without structured validation remain more cautious.
At Agoda, these insights reflect how our engineering teams work with AI on a daily basis. Developers are encouraged to experiment with AI tools while maintaining clear ownership of the results, and review and validation will remain part of standard development practice. This approach supports increased productivity while increasing confidence in the quality of AI-assisted output.
The Agoda AI Developer Report 2025 is based on survey responses from developers in Southeast Asia and India, and includes insights from regional companies such as Carousell, MoMo, Omise, and SCB 10X. It provides a detailed view of how developers are integrating AI into their workflows, where trust is broken, and what is needed to move from widely used to trusted maturity.
Source Agoda
