Effect of AI tools on novice developers’ skill formation

Establish the effect of AI coding tools on the skill formation of junior or less experienced software developers who experience productivity gains when using AI assistance.

Background

Prior studies show that less experienced developers often receive larger productivity boosts from AI coding assistance. However, it is unknown whether these tools positively or negatively affect the underlying development of their skills. The paper highlights this gap as important because novices are simultaneously expected to learn quickly and may be most prone to relying on AI outputs without fully internalizing the relevant concepts.

References

Yet the effect of these tools on the skill formation of this subgroup remains unknown.

— How AI Impacts Skill Formation  (2601.20245 - Shen et al., 28 Jan 2026) in Section 2: Background – The Impacts of AI Usage (Productivity Gains)

The context-file ablations~\citep{gloaguen2026agentsmd,khatri2026contextfiles} bound what static files do for well-specified tasks and leave the unskilled-user case open (Section~\ref{sec:skill}).

— Control the Harness, Control the Cost: Routing and Governing AI Coding Agents in the Enterprise  (2609.28919 - Abbasi et al., 24 Sep 2026) in Section 7, paragraph “Developer productivity and skill” (Related work)

As this was not a priori factor considered in this study it is possible that the different ways in which GenAI tools are being used could impact learning processes differently. Future studies could conduct controlled experiments specifically regimenting how students are instructed to use GenAI tools to further explore if the manner in which GenAI is used has an impact on student learning processes.

— Your Programming Students' Cognition with ChatGPT: Higher Performance, Lower Retention, and Reduced Ownership  (2609.21194 - Bergh et al., 18 Sep 2026) in Section 5, Limitations and Future Work