Agoda Releases AI Developer Report 2025: How Engineers Work with AI Across Southeast Asia and India

Here’s a detailed summary of Agoda’s AI Developer Report 2025, which focuses on how engineers across Southeast Asia and India are working with AI:

1. AI is Mainstream but Not Yet Mature
- 95% of developers use AI weekly; 56% keep an AI assistant open at all times.
- Productivity is the main driver: 80% cite speed and automation as their motivation.
- Engineers save 4–6 hours per week on average.
- However, only 22% use AI for solving unfamiliar problems, and less than half (43%) believe AI can perform at the level of a mid-level engineer

2. Accountability and Oversight Are Crucial
- 79% of developers cite inconsistent or unreliable outputs as the biggest barrier.
- 67% review all AI-generated code before merging.
- 70% routinely rework outputs to ensure correctness.
- Only 25% of teams have formal AI policies, but team-led reviews are improving reliability

3. Uneven Access to AI Training
- 71% of developers are self-taught (tutorials, side projects, online communities).
- Only 28% receive employer-led training.
- Access varies by country: developers in Singapore are nearly twice as likely as those in Vietnam to have formal training programs.
- Despite gaps, 87% have adjusted their learning or career plans to leverage AI, and 62% expect expanded career opportunities

Regional Context
- The study covers Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and India.
- Insights were drawn from leading companies like Carousell, MoMo, Omise, and SCB 10x.
- Agoda’s CTO, Idan Zalzberg, emphasized that AI is reshaping how developers build, learn, and collaborate — but adoption remains pragmatic, focused on speed and quality rather than replacing skill or judgment

Implications
- For developers: AI is a productivity booster, but human oversight remains essential.
- For organizations: There’s a need to establish structured policies and training programs to close skill gaps.
- For the region: Southeast Asia and India are positioning themselves as a potential “Silicon Valley of Asia,” combining high adoption with responsible experimentation

In short:
AI adoption among developers in Southeast Asia and India is nearly universal, but it’s still evolving. The focus is on speed, quality, and accountability, with developers driving their own growth faster than organizations can train them.