Towards an AI-Assisted Software Developer: The Perspective on Use of ChatGPT for Programming in the Philippines

The labor market landscape for software development has been changing with the introduction of ChatGPT, a Large Language Model capable of transforming text into codes. In anticipation, the Philippine government recently passed laws that equip the Filipino workforce to be AI-ready. However, gap still exists between the interest and actual use of ChatGPT in the industry, specifically for software development. This study implores a qualitative thematic analysis to determine the perspective of software developers on use of ChatGPT for programming. The study revealed that through continuous interaction between software developers and ChatGPT, Filipino software developers are seeing themselves to be an AI-assisted software developer with the help of ChatGPT. The importance of performance expectancy and organizational policy are highlighted as influencing factors towards use of ChatGPT for software development. The effect of social influence and trust can also be seen but must be further studied given the stronger influence of performance expectancy. The study contributed insights that strengthen human-centric technology adoption and emphasized the importance of incorporating human-computer interaction in understanding technology acceptance and use.