Marc Oriol

Silverio Martínez-Fernández, Justus Bogner, Xavier Franch et al.

AI-based systems are software systems with functionalities enabled by at least one AI component (e.g., for image- and speech-recognition, and autonomous driving). AI-based systems are becoming pervasive in society due to advances in AI. However, there is limited synthesized knowledge on Software Engineering (SE) approaches for building, operating, and maintaining AI-based systems. To collect and analyze state-of-the-art knowledge about SE for AI-based systems, we conducted a systematic mapping study. We considered 248 studies published between January 2010 and March 2020. SE for AI-based systems is an emerging research area, where more than 2/3 of the studies have been published since 2018. The most studied properties of AI-based systems are dependability and safety. We identified multiple SE approaches for AI-based systems, which we classified according to the SWEBOK areas. Studies related to software testing and software quality are very prevalent, while areas like software maintenance seem neglected. Data-related issues are the most recurrent challenges. Our results are valuable for: researchers, to quickly understand the state of the art and learn which topics need more research; practitioners, to learn about the approaches and challenges that SE entails for AI-based systems; and, educators, to bridge the gap among SE and AI in their curricula.

Xavier Franch, Daniel Mendez, Andreas Vogelsang et al.

The relevance of Requirements Engineering (RE) research to practitioners is vital for a long-term dissemination of research results to everyday practice. Some authors have speculated about a mismatch between research and practice in the RE discipline. However, there is not much evidence to support or refute this perception. This paper presents the results of a study aimed at gathering evidence from practitioners about their perception of the relevance of RE research and at understanding the factors that influence that perception. We conducted a questionnaire-based survey of industry practitioners with expertise in RE. The participants rated the perceived relevance of 435 scientific papers presented at five top RE-related conferences. The 153 participants provided a total of 2,164 ratings. The practitioners rated RE research as essential or worthwhile in a majority of cases. However, the percentage of non-positive ratings is still higher than we would like. Among the factors that affect the perception of relevance are the research's links to industry, the research method used, and respondents' roles. The reasons for positive perceptions were primarily related to the relevance of the problem and the soundness of the solution, while the causes for negative perceptions were more varied. The respondents also provided suggestions for future research, including topics researchers have studied for decades, like elicitation or requirement quality criteria.

Silverio Martínez-Fernández, Xavier Franch, Andreas Jedlitschka et al.

Companies dealing with Artificial Intelligence (AI) models in Autonomous Systems (AS) face several problems, such as users' lack of trust in adverse or unknown conditions, gaps between software engineering and AI model development, and operation in a continuously changing operational environment. This work-in-progress paper aims to close the gap between the development and operation of trustworthy AI-based AS by defining an approach that coordinates both activities. We synthesize the main challenges of AI-based AS in industrial settings. We reflect on the research efforts required to overcome these challenges and propose a novel, holistic DevOps approach to put it into practice. We elaborate on four research directions: (a) increased users' trust by monitoring operational AI-based AS and identifying self-adaptation needs in critical situations; (b) integrated agile process for the development and evolution of AI models and AS; (c) continuous deployment of different context-specific instances of AI models in a distributed setting of AS; and (d) holistic DevOps-based lifecycle for AI-based AS.