AI amplifies the team you already have

Google's 2025 DORA research, drawing on nearly 5,000 technology professionals, found AI is now near-universal in software teams. Whether it helps depends on the foundations underneath.

DORA, the research programme now run by Google Cloud, studies what makes software teams effective. Its 2025 report focused on AI, and its central finding is easy to state: AI is an amplifier.

Near-universal adoption

Drawing on survey responses from nearly 5,000 technology professionals and more than 100 hours of qualitative research, the report found that 90 percent use AI at work, and more than 80 percent believe it has made them more productive. Yet 30 percent reported little or no trust in the code it generates.

Faster, but less stable

For the first time, AI adoption showed a positive relationship with software delivery throughput and product performance. But it still had a negative relationship with delivery stability. More change, made faster, without strong safety nets such as automated testing, mature version control and fast feedback, means more things break.

Strong teams get stronger

The report's core message is that AI magnifies what is already there. Teams with loosely coupled systems, fast feedback and a clear focus on users saw gains. Teams held back by tightly coupled systems and slow processes saw little or no benefit, and struggling teams found their existing problems intensified. Organisations with good internal platforms were best placed to turn AI into results.

What leaders should do

DORA's starting points for leaders are practical: make AI policies clear, connect AI to internal context, prioritise foundational engineering practices, strengthen safety nets, invest in internal platforms, and keep the focus on end users.

For anyone commissioning software, the implication is simple. A supplier's AI tools matter less than its engineering basics. Ask about tests, releases and feedback loops first; AI will make those better or worse.