Taras Kytsmey, co-founder of the largest Ukrainian IT outsourcing company SoftServe, believes that traditional development is currently on pause, but the latest technologies, in particular AI, open up many opportunities for the industry.
Taras Kytsmey, co-founder of the largest Ukrainian IT outsourcing company SoftServe, believes that traditional development is currently on pause, but the latest technologies, in particular AI, open up many opportunities for the industry.
According to Kitsmey, Artificial Intelligence, Big Data, and machine learning are currently top trends, and services in these areas are growing rapidly. «Traditional software development is stagnant, while new technologies are experiencing a real boom. Accordingly, the demand for artificial intelligence specialists is growing — not to develop their own code, but to help clients improve business processes,» he said in an interview with Channel 24.
The SoftServe co-founder said that the company currently has a large GenAI Lab — a team that consults with clients and provides services for implementing solutions based on artificial intelligence, accumulates extensive practical experience, and helps develop this knowledge in the company as a whole. «This year, the demand for AI services among clients has increased significantly. We use both a large number of ready-made solutions and have our own AI developments and AI agents,» Kitsmey noted.
He is convinced that in order to effectively implement new technologies, they need to be institutionalized within the company. «Great service is achieved when the technology is not just in one person’s head, but when there is a clear implementation process, quality control, a business analyst, and an artificial intelligence specialist. One person cannot know everything, so you need a team that covers different knowledge and together creates a solution that really brings benefits,» Kitsmey explained.
According to him, SoftServe began implementing the first systematic steps towards the use of artificial intelligence two years ago, and now is the time for a larger implementation. «The use of AI increases productivity by approximately 30-50%,» the IT specialist is convinced.
He compared it to the agricultural sector, where farmers once switched from horses to tractors. «Whether you like it or not, it increased their productivity. In the same way, programmers now have to ‘switch to tractors.’ And the funny thing is that these ‘tractors’ (AI-based tools) are available to everyone. Once, farmers thought about where to get money for a tractor, but now they just need to take the initiative and start using these tools to show better productivity,» Kitsmey noted.
However, says the SoftServe co-founder, there is one caveat to working with AI at the moment: artificial intelligence often gives a solution, but you don’t know where it came from. «It doesn’t invent solutions, but compiles them from existing sources. You can be given code or an algorithm, but you can’t check whether you’re violating copyright because you don’t know the source. This is why many clients are afraid to widely use these technologies, so as not to have problems with intellectual property. Because then someone can say: „This code is patented!“, and you didn’t know. This is one of the main inhibiting factors,» he said.
However, Kitsmey is confident that the world will overcome all this. «Now, many companies are providing solutions that cannot be used to train AI models in order to protect property. This is also an issue that is currently being actively discussed,» he says.
Recall, Kitsmey previously said that more than half of SoftServe’s specialists had never worked in an office.
In addition, he believes that testers will gradually exit the market and AI will force the IT industry to reinvent itself.
