What is Generative AI good for? Introduction to the special issue on Generative AI in software engineering

Viktoria Stray; Geir Kjetil Hanssen; Astri Barbala; Darja Šmite; Klaas Jan Stol

doi:10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107857

What is Generative AI good for? Introduction to the special issue on Generative AI in software engineering

Viktoria Stray
, Geir Kjetil Hanssen
, Astri Barbala
, Darja Šmite
, Klaas Jan Stol

School of Computer Science and Information Technology

Research output: Contribution to journal › Editorial

Abstract

A major question that can be asked of any new major technology or innovation is: what is it good for? For this special issue, we invited manuscripts that answer exactly that question in the context of Generative AI and Software Engineering. We received 33 submission, which underwent a rigorous peer review process. This process led to inclusion of 13 manuscripts, which we organized according to McGrath's Group Task typology in this editorial. In doing so, we acknowledge that not all tasks are equal, and we demonstrate the breadth of tasks that GenAI can assist in. This set of curated articles provides a variety of interesting applications and studies of GenAI technology. We conclude this editorial with an outlook on the future.

Original language	English
Article number	107857
Journal	Information and Software Technology
Volume	187
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107857
Publication status	Published - Nov 2025

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10.1016/j.infsof.2025.107857

https://hdl.handle.net/10468/17797Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

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title = "What is Generative AI good for? Introduction to the special issue on Generative AI in software engineering",

abstract = "A major question that can be asked of any new major technology or innovation is: what is it good for? For this special issue, we invited manuscripts that answer exactly that question in the context of Generative AI and Software Engineering. We received 33 submission, which underwent a rigorous peer review process. This process led to inclusion of 13 manuscripts, which we organized according to McGrath's Group Task typology in this editorial. In doing so, we acknowledge that not all tasks are equal, and we demonstrate the breadth of tasks that GenAI can assist in. This set of curated articles provides a variety of interesting applications and studies of GenAI technology. We conclude this editorial with an outlook on the future.",

author = "Viktoria Stray and Hanssen, \{Geir Kjetil\} and Astri Barbala and Darja {\v S}mite and Stol, \{Klaas Jan\}",

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AU - Stray, Viktoria

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AU - Barbala, Astri

AU - Šmite, Darja

AU - Stol, Klaas Jan

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AB - A major question that can be asked of any new major technology or innovation is: what is it good for? For this special issue, we invited manuscripts that answer exactly that question in the context of Generative AI and Software Engineering. We received 33 submission, which underwent a rigorous peer review process. This process led to inclusion of 13 manuscripts, which we organized according to McGrath's Group Task typology in this editorial. In doing so, we acknowledge that not all tasks are equal, and we demonstrate the breadth of tasks that GenAI can assist in. This set of curated articles provides a variety of interesting applications and studies of GenAI technology. We conclude this editorial with an outlook on the future.

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VL - 187

JO - Information and Software Technology

JF - Information and Software Technology

M1 - 107857

ER -

What is Generative AI good for? Introduction to the special issue on Generative AI in software engineering

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