Towards AI-Native Software Engineering (SE 3.0): A Vision and a Challenge Roadmap

Understand

The rise of AI-assisted software engineering (SE 2.0), powered by Foundation Models (FMs) and FM-powered coding assistants, has shown promise in improving developer productivity.

• However, it has also exposed inherent limitations, such as cognitive overload on developers and inefficiencies.
• We propose a shift towards Software Engineering 3.0 (SE 3.0), an AI-native approach characterized by intent-centric, conversation-oriented development between human developers and AI teammates.
• SE 3.0 envisions AI systems evolving beyond task-driven copilots into intelligent collaborators, capable of deeply understanding and reasoning about software engineering principles and intents.