Forget replacing developers: How AI is supercharging developer creativity and innovation

Contrary to the common belief that using AI, particularly generative AI (GenAI), to generate code would replace software developers, GitLab feels this will spur greater demand for developers.

The company helps customers manage the growing complexities of planning, developing, securing, and deploying software.

GitLab’s Interim Chief Revenue Officer and Chief Strategy & Marketing Officer, Ashley Kramer, said using GenAI to develop code results in demand for “more software and [hence] more developers.”

Speaking at this year’s STACK Developer Conference, GovTech Singapore's biennial developer conference, she added: “At the end of the day, AI enables developers to focus on what truly matters: creativity and innovation. By automating mundane tasks, simplifying debugging and testing, and elevating code quality, AI frees up developers' time and unlocks their potential to drive true innovation."

Taking advantage of GenAI

According to a recent GitLab study, 96 percent of APAC respondents said they currently use AI in software development or plan to use it.

Noting that GitLab helps customers like Airwallex and Agoda take advantage of GenAI in several ways, Kramer said the company has a unified platform and single data store that tracks all activities across the software development lifecycle.

“This allows users to leverage the context and data from the entire DevSecOps workflow to power the platform’s AI capabilities,” she added.

DevSecOps refers to a framework that integrates security into every stage of the software development lifecycle. 

She shared that GitLab has built its own AI tool, GitLab Duo, which assists with tasks like code generation, code refactoring, vulnerability remediation, and more.

Kramer said Duo helps identify and remediate security vulnerabilities in code and automatically generates tests. It can also explain and provide context around specific code chunks.

GitLab offers two tiers of Duo subscriptions: There’s Duo Pro and Duo Enterprise, which is for larger organisations.

More capabilities soon

The key capabilities of GitLab's upcoming AI packages, like Duo Workflow, will include proactive AI agents rather than just reacting to prompts from a developer. GitLab users already have code suggestions that can assist developers in writing and refactoring code more easily, Kramer said.

GitLab leverages large language models (LLMs) from partners such as Google and Anthropic to power the AI capabilities of Duo, while also integrating the AI tools with the DevSecOps workflow and data within the GitLab platform.

“This comprehensive AI integration across the software development lifecycle is a key differentiator for GitLab compared to competitors that may focus solely on the code writing experience,” Kramer said.

From open source to commercial

GitLab provides a free open-source edition, GitLab Community Edition, and an Enterprise Edition (EE), which is open-core and combines the open-source version of the software with premium paid add-ons.

With an open core approach, customers can "co-create" with GitLab, customising the proprietary features to meet their specific needs without having to wait for GitLab to deliver the updates, Kramer said.

The EE edition includes enterprise-level features like security, compliance, and advanced permissions. Customers need to pay to access and use these proprietary features.

Users can choose a multi-tenant software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform called GitLab Ultimate for either tier or a single-tenant SaaS platform.

The company also offers a self-managed option that can be deployed on-prem or in the cloud.

Offering both free and paid tiers allows GitLab to balance the benefits of community collaboration and customisation with a viable commercial offering, appealing to a wide range of customers with varying needs and constraints, Kramer said.

Key to software transformation

Noting that an open-source mindset is key to software transformation and innovation, Kramer said GitLab enables collaboration across different roles within an organization, like product managers, developers, operations, and security professionals.

She said that with GitLab’s open-core model, customers can “co-create” and customise the proprietary features to their specific needs.

“We understand that financial and government institutions, whose code is not open, can still benefit from internal community collaboration without being open to the world,” she noted. “This allows for an inner-sourcing model which is like an open-source community but behind a firewall.”

This provides visibility and contributions from different groups and departments as well as different project teams within the organisation who can all safely contribute to the code, Kramer added.

Asia Pacific is a growth area

GitLab was founded in 2011 and incorporated as a company in 2014. It is publicly listed with a run-rate revenue of US$730 million (S$983 million) and has more than 40 million registered users.

Kramer said GitLab views the Asia Pacific region as a major growth opportunity and is "doubling down" on its investments and focus there.

The company is partnering with cloud service providers like AWS and Google to work jointly with customers on their software transformation goals.

“We view the Asia Pacific region, particularly the highly regulated industries within it, as a major strategic focus area for the company's future growth and expansion plans,” Kramer said.

Fully remote

GitLab has 2,300 employees spread over 65 countries and has been a fully remote company since its inception in 2011, “today we have a truly global and distributed workforce.” 

Kramer added that GitLab’s remote work culture is “built on a strong set of values, including collaboration, diversity, inclusion, and transparency.” 

These values are deeply embedded in their everyday operations and decision-making. One example cited by Kramer is the company’s "CEO shadow programme," where employees can apply to shadow the CEO for two weeks, attending all his (remote) meetings and providing feedback on his performance.

“The CEO shadow programme reflects GitLab's overall culture of transparency, openness, and continuous learning... It allows employees to gain deep insights into the leadership and decision-making processes at the highest level of the organisation,” she added.