Agoda releases Al Developer Report 2026
Digital travel platform Agoda has released a new study showing that software developers across Southeast Asia and India are rapidly transitioning from using Al assistants for individual tasks to deploying autonomous Al agents across the software-development lifecycle.
Here are some key takeaways:
- 53% of surveyed developers now have Al agents in production or broad use, led by Thailand {64%), Vietnam {59%) and Singapore (58%) but only 38% consider their codebase ready for full
- Cost is now the top barrier to broader Al adoption, cited by 28% of developers as the primary obstacle to wider Al agent use.
- The share of developers saving seven hours or more a week across Asia has tripled to 55% from 18% in 2025.
- 71% expect Al agents to handle most development work within three years, though 79% still require human approval for production deployment.
- Thailand reported the region’s largest productivity rates, with 70% of developers saving at least seven hours a week, followed by Vietnam {63%) and the Philippines {57%).
The Agoda Al Developer Report 2026 explores how this transition is reshaping the way developers work, how organizations manage costs, and where human accountability sits.
Drawing on extensive input from the developer community across Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, and India, the report examines the opportunities and challenges shaping Al’s next phase across these markets.
Al is delivering more value, but developers still verify the output
Developers are experiencing greater productivity gains from Al. More than half (55%) now save at least seven hours each week, compared with 18% in 2025. Gains were strongest in Thailand (70%), Vietnam
{63%) and the Philippines (57%). Reported code usability has also improved, with 62% saying Al-generated code is usable often or almost always without major changes.
Al is also being used more broadly across development work, including code review, architecture, debugging, learning, and documentation. Yet human judgment remains essential: 86% of respondents still review or validate Al-generated outputs always or most of the time.
Agents are arriving fast, but cost is holding back wider adoption
More than half (53%) of respondents say Al agents are already used in selected production workflows or broadly across their organization. Thailand leads at 64%, followed by Vietnam (59%) and Singapore (58%). However, only 38% describe their codebase as mostly or fully ready for a fully autonomous agent.
Cost is the primary barrier to wider adoption, cited by 28% of respondents, ahead of integration complexity (24%) and lack of governance (19%). The report finds that Al costs extend beyond model calls to include the work needed to design, integrate, review, and validate agents. Four in five respondents said they are currently working under some degree of Al usage limits, such as token quotas, usage caps, or budget restrictions.
Autonomy is growing, while accountability remains human
Developers are open to granting Al agents more autonomy for lower-risk, reversible work such as documentation. But as work moves closer to production, the demand for human oversight rises: 79% report requiring human approval for production deployment, rising to 84% in both Vietnam and Thailand.
Al is also changing the developer’s role. System architecture and design, Al literacy, and agent orchestration are emerging as future skills. The transition is uneven, however: 49% of junior developers report feeling less secure about their future career prospects, compared with 16.7% of CTO and VP Engineering respondents.
ldan Zalzberg, Chief Technology Officer at Agoda, shared, “Artificial intelligence is reshaping how developers across Southeast Asia and India build, learn, and collaborate. What began as a way to speed up individual tasks is becoming a broader change in how software is built. Across industries, developers are seeing stronger productivity gains and are beginning to use agents across more of the development lifecyc/e. But greater capability brings new responsibilities. The real cost is not simply the model call. It is the work required to make Al trustworthy in production. The organizations that will excel in this next phase will be the ones that manage cost carefully, build the right safeguards, and keep human judgment where it matters most.”
The study was commissioned by Agoda and conducted in partnership with Macrame Consulting. As a digital travel and technology company in the region, Agoda is committed to supporting local technology talent, fostering innovation, and sharing insights that help developers and organizations build responsible Al practices.
For more information and to download the free report, visit https://www.apacdeveloperreport.com/
