GitLab: Although Agentic AI Drives Software, Humans Are Key
GitLab says AI-driven software innovation is a transformative force driving significant revenue growth and productivity across businesses.
In its 2025 report The Economics of Software Innovation: £5B+ Opportunity at a Crossroads – conducted with The Harris Poll – GitLab surveyed 253 UK C-level executives to highlight the economic promise of AI while underscoring critical concerns around skill gaps, governance and security in the rapidly evolving software development landscape.
The results of the report emphasise that AI software innovation is no longer a niche technical function but a core business priority for 89% of UK executives surveyed.
Not only that, the benefits are tangible: companies report a 53% rise in revenue and a 54% boost in developer productivity linked directly to AI-enabled innovation.
GitLab’s research finds that developers have saved on average 417 hours annually through automation of routine tasks, which when multiplied across the UK’s 465,000 developers translates to an estimated £5.12bn (US$7bn) in potential economic value – demonstrating both the scale and immediacy of AI’s impact on software development as a growth engine.
Creativity and collaboration are irreplaceable
Although the report shines a spotlight on the benefits of AI, it also identifies a nuanced challenge beneath the surface success.
It finds that while businesses are accelerating agentic AI adoption – AI systems with independent decision-making capabilities – governance and security risks have escalated.
Nearly three-quarters of executives, 74%, voice concerns about new cybersecurity threats arising from AI agents, with 61% specifically worried about cyberattacks and 51% about data privacy issues.
In response, 57% say their organisations have implemented regulatory-aligned governance frameworks, with many also employing third-party audits and internal AI policies to manage risk.
Here, a distinct tension emerges between the promise of AI and the indispensable human element required to sustain innovation.
GitLab’s survey found unanimous agreement – a staggering 100% – saying that human creativity, strategic vision and collaboration remain vital to software success.
Despite aspirations for a balanced human-AI workflow, 75% of current software development work is handled by humans, with AI contributing only about 25%.
A further 72% of executives believe the ideal human contribution in development should be at least half, underscoring the complementary rather than replacement role of AI in software innovation.
Upskilling the workforce is a critical priority amid these evolving demands.
Almost 90% of UK executives emphasise the urgency of training employees to collaborate effectively with AI tools.
Notably, 38% see developer upskilling as the single most valuable benefit AI can bring.
Companies, 46%, are increasingly measuring ROI not just by cost savings but through enhanced problem-solving, with 44% citing faster time-to-market and improved customer experience.
Another 44% say this is enabled by AI-assisted talent development.
Louise Fellows, Vice President of UK at GitLab, stresses this human-AI partnership.
“AI-fuelled software innovation is an undeniable source of competitive advantage and economic impact, with 89% of executives in the UK saying that it's now a core business priority,” she tells Technology Magazine.
“The companies pulling ahead are the ones blending AI with human expertise, leveraging agentic AI with intention, aligning software strategy with business value and building guardrails to innovate responsibly.
“With £5+ billion per year in potential value at stake, the organisations that optimise this human-AI partnership today will define the future of software tomorrow.”
Navigating governance, security and talent
The momentum around agentic AI adoption is clear, especially as 86% of executives GitLab surveyed expect it to become the industry standard within three years.
Emilio Salvador, GitLab’s Vice President of Strategy and Developer Relations, emphasises the skill demands this shift creates.
“When 86% of executives expect agentic AI to become the industry standard within three years, developers who can think systematically about human-AI workflows will be indispensable,” he shares with Technology Magazine.
This illustrates a future in which developers’ value will increasingly derive from their ability to orchestrate AI collaboration rather than perform solo coding tasks.
From a strategic perspective, GitLab’s findings reveal that software innovation is firmly embedded at the boardroom level.
More than 90% of executives report strong board buy-in for innovation efforts and 78% express willingness to allocate over half their IT budgets to advance software-driven growth.
Louise adds: “The research reveals that 100% of UK executives think that human contributions are valuable for software development, with creativity and strategic vision as the most desired human inputs.
“To be clear, this is not about AI replacing developers. It's about elevating human capabilities.”
