At What Cost? Software Developers' Well-Being in the Age of GenAI

2026-05-21

AI Summary

This study addresses the dual-edged impact of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in software development, which, while enhancing productivity, may exacerbate cognitive load, supervisory burden, occupational stress, and inequities among developers. For the first time, it systematically integrates developer well-being into a GenAI impact assessment framework by synthesizing perspectives from human-computer interaction and sociotechnical systems theory. Through qualitative analysis and theoretical modeling, the work proposes a human-centered, sustainable paradigm for software development that challenges the prevailing efficiency-centric technological agenda. It advances a new research direction for GenAI that foregrounds human experience and social context, laying a theoretical foundation for future empirical studies and tool design aimed at fostering healthier, more equitable software engineering practices.

Abstract

Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) is rapidly reshaping software development, with growing emphasis on accelerating productivity and optimizing performance. However, excessive focus on such dimensions risks overlooking the critical implications for developer well-being. GenAI tools can amplify cognitive load, introduce new forms of oversight labor, and escalate expectations around output and pace, contributing to stress, burnout, and diminished work-life balance. The GenAI movement is also transforming professional norms, altering career entry points, demanding continuous adaptation, and deepening inequalities in access and support. This position paper calls for a reorientation of the GenAI research agenda in software development and proposes a theoretical framework to move beyond narrow performance metrics toward investigations that also center on human experience, social context, and sustainable productivity.

Problem

• developer well-being
• Generative AI
• software development
• burnout
• work-life balance

Innovation

• developer well-being
• generative AI
• sustainable productivity
• cognitive load
• human-centered AI