Towards an Appropriate Level of Reliance on AI: A Preliminary Reliance-Control Framework for AI in Software Engineering
For software engineering practitioners and researchers, this framework offers a conceptual tool to understand and mitigate risks of AI overreliance and underreliance.
The paper proposes a preliminary reliance-control framework based on interviews with 22 software developers to identify overreliance and underreliance on AI tools like LLMs, aiming to promote appropriate reliance levels.
How software developers interact with Artificial Intelligence (AI)-powered tools, including Large Language Models (LLMs), plays a vital role in how these AI-powered tools impact them. While overreliance on AI may lead to long-term negative consequences (e.g., atrophy of critical thinking skills); underreliance might deprive software developers of potential gains in productivity and quality. Based on twenty-two interviews with software developers on using LLMs for software development, we propose a preliminary reliance-control framework where the level of control can be used as a way to identify AI overreliance and underreliance. We also use it to recommend future research to further explore the different control levels supported by the current and emergent LLM-driven tools. Our paper contributes to the emerging discourse on AI overreliance and provides an understanding of the appropriate degree of reliance as essential to developers making the most of these powerful technologies. Our findings can help practitioners, educators, and policymakers promote responsible and effective use of AI tools.