AI productivity gains are 10%, not 10x
A longitudinal study by DX analyzing 40 companies from November 2024 to February 2026 found that despite a 65% increase in AI tool usage, PR throughput only improved by ~10%. This contradicts vendor claims of 2-3x productivity gains. The modest improvement is attributed to the fact that writing code was never the primary bottleneck—planning, alignment, code review, and other human-centric SDLC activities remain largely unaffected by AI tools. Engineering leaders are advised to reset internal expectations accordingly.
