How will Generative AI (GenAI) fundamentally transform software engineering—not only the way we write code, but also the way entire software systems operate?

This key question was explored by Andreas Metzger from our faculty’s Software Engineering Department together with researchers from Germany and Italy. The results have now been published in the renowned journal ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (TOSEM).

The researchers classify GenAI along two key dimensions:

Focus of Support (Process vs. Product) This dimension distinguishes whether AI primarily supports and optimizes traditional software engineering processes, or whether it becomes part of the software product itself by replacing traditionally programmed functionality with integrated AI capabilities. Degree of Autonomy (Passive vs. Active) Passive AI responds only to explicit user inputs. Active, or agentic, AI systems, on the other hand, possess their own control flow, act proactively, and make partially autonomous decisions within a system.

The combination of these two dimensions results in four fundamental forms of GenAI enhancement. The accompanying figure illustrates these different manifestations.

To better understand the long-term dynamics of this transformation, the research team analyzed existing literature using an innovative approach. By applying McLuhan’s tetrads, they systematically examined which established software engineering knowledge is enhanced, reversed, revived, or displaced by GenAI.

The resulting insights enable well-founded predictions about the future of software engineering. The article discusses both challenges and opportunities, including:

- Advanced prompt engineering 
- Accountability and security 
-Collaboration in hybrid human–AI teams
-Coordination of agentic systems at both the process and product levels

In the published article, the researchers also formulate ten strategic predictions for the future of software engineering.

The TOSEM article is available at: https://doi.org/10.1145/3788879

The paper will be presented as a “Journal First” contribution at the FSE Software Engineering Conference 2026, which will take place in Montreal from July 5–9, 2026. Further information about the conference can be found here: https://conf.researchr.org/track/fse-2026/fse-2026-journal-first