GitLab Inc. released its annual Global DevSecOps report, The Intelligent Software Development Era: How AI will redefine DevSecOps in 2026 and beyond. Conducted by The Harris Poll, the study surveyed 3,266 DevSecOps professionals across IT operations, IT security, and software development. The findings reveal what GitLab calls the 'AI Paradox.'
While AI accelerates coding, fragmented toolchains and new compliance complexities are creating bottlenecks that cost teams nearly a full workday per team member each week. Organizations face a critical inflection point: 82% now deploy to production at least weekly, yet productivity barriers from tool sprawl (60% use more than five tools for software development; 49% use more than five AI tools) prevent them from fully capitalizing on AI's potential speed advantages. The solution lies in platform engineering approaches that can address the interconnected requirements of AI orchestration, governance, and compliance.
This need for integrated platforms comes as AI fundamentally reshapes team structures. With 76% of respondents believe that as coding gets easier with AI, there will be more engineers rather than fewer, amplifying the challenge of managing AI-generated code at scale. As AI readiness nears universal levels, human oversight remains essential; 97% are using or planning to use AI in the software development lifecycle; Only 37% would trust AI to handle daily work tasks without human review; 73% have experienced problems with code created by "vibe coding" (using natural language prompts without understanding how code works); 88% agree there are essential human qualities, such as creativity and innovation, that agentic AI will never fully replace.
W widespread AI implementation creates compliance complexities that demand human expertise and point toward a future where compliance is built directly into code; 70% agree that AI is making compliance management more challenging for their organizations; 76% find that currently, more compliance issues are discovered after deployment than during the development process; 43% believe that implementing AI for security/compliance is the top skill required for career advancement, ahead of using AI for code generation, and fluency in programming languages; 82% predict that by 2027, compliance will be built into code and automatically applied.
