The productivity numbers are real. GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code — these tools genuinely changed what a developer can ship in a day. Engineering teams saw their sprint baselines recalibrate upward by 40% within two quarters of adopting AI coding assistants. That is not marketing copy. That is what happened.
What also happened: more than 80% of developers now report feeling burned out. Nearly half have considered leaving the industry entirely.
These numbers exist in the same timeframe. The same teams. Often the same people.
Everyone celebrated the velocity number. Nobody asked what it cost.
The part of the productivity story that did not make the announcement
