Vietnamese programmers among Southeast Asia's leading group in AI applications

DNVN - Vietnam is emerging as a bright spot in Southeast Asia in terms of the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in the software development process. According to a recent report published by the digital travel platform Agoda, AI has become an indispensable tool in the daily work of the programming community in our country.

A report on how software engineers work with AI in Southeast Asia and India. Photo: Agoda.

AI adoption among software developers in Southeast Asia and India is at an all-time high, with 95% of developers in the region reporting weekly use of AI, suggesting the technology has become an integral part of their daily work routine, according to the report.

In Vietnam, the programming community has shown outstanding initiative in integrating AI at every stage of the software development and testing process. Specifically, 94.3% of Vietnamese programmers use AI when writing code, 70% use this tool for document compilation, and 62.9% apply AI in software testing and verification.

One notable difference is the trend of diversifying AI tools among Vietnamese programmers. With 41% of Vietnamese engineers having used the Claude Code platform in the past 6 months, Vietnam now leads the region in terms of diversity in AI tool choices.

This is the highest rate of any market surveyed, and far exceeds other popular tools like Copilot and ChatGPT – which are dominant in many other places.

AI Boosts Productivity - The Top Driver of Developers

It is the desire to increase productivity that is the main driving force behind the widespread adoption of AI.

About 80% of survey respondents in the region said that speed and automation are the reasons they integrate AI into their workflow. Currently, 56% of programmers always turn on AI assistant tools during work, considering them an indispensable “assistant”.

According to the results, 37% of engineers saved between 4 and 6 hours per week using AI, reflecting a clear effect on time and productivity. Notably, 72% said their performance and code quality improved significantly when AI was operated within a reasonable control framework.

Yet AI is still largely seen as a productivity tool rather than a true innovation partner. Only 22% of developers use AI to solve new problems, and 43% believe AI can achieve the same level of competency as mid-level engineers.

Responsible Application - a Must in the Age of AI

While AI can help speed up and increase efficiency, accountability and reliability are still seen as core foundations. Around 79% of developers in the region said that unstable or unreliable outputs are the major barriers preventing them from expanding their use of AI.

To ensure product quality, monitoring and verifying AI-generated results has become an indispensable step. 70% of programmers regularly edit output to ensure accuracy, and 67% test all generated AI code before integrating it into a project.

In fact, focusing on verification does not slow down innovation, but rather helps to strengthen creativity, ensure high quality and maintain a steady pace of development. The role of human oversight is therefore still considered central to a responsible AI strategy.

A notable finding from the survey is the difference in access to formal AI training between countries. Programmers in Singapore are nearly twice as likely to be formally trained as those in Vietnam, reflecting a certain gap in resources. However, the self-learning spirit of programmers in the region is still assessed as very strong. The majority - 71% - self-taught AI through tutorials, personal projects or online communities, showing a high level of initiative in updating new skills. Notably, 87% of programmers have adjusted their study or work plans to seize opportunities from AI.

This trend toward self-directed learning shows that the engineering workforce is advancing faster than the organization’s training capabilities, and demonstrates a spirit of experimentation, ambition, and growing understanding of AI.

Idan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer of Agoda, said that AI is fundamentally changing the way developers build, learn and collaborate. According to him, AI has moved from being a support role for coding and testing to becoming a central component in the entire software development cycle.

Currently, AI in Southeast Asia and India is developing in a pragmatic way, focusing on improving productivity rather than replacing humans. The real value of this technology lies in building responsible and sustainable processes, thereby converting the current high level of adoption into stable, long-term capabilities.

Hien Thao

Source: https://doanhnghiepvn.vn/chuyen-doi-so/lap-trinh-vien-viet-nam-trong-nhom-dan-dau-dong-nam-a-ve-ung-dung-ai/20251105094711709