How Instacart is Harnessing AI to Transform Software Development

In an era where technology evolves at breakneck speed, companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to streamline operations and enhance productivity. Instacart, the online grocery delivery service, is making waves in the tech community by boldly questioning the role of engineers in their development processes. At the VB Transform conference in 2026, Instacart's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Anirban Kundu highlighted how AI is not just a tool but a transformative force that allows engineers to shift focus from mundane tasks to complex problem-solving. With AI handling the bulk of code generation and repetitive tasks, the company is embracing a future where tech debt becomes a relic of the past.

Kundu's remarks shine a light on a significant paradigm shift happening in software development. The traditional notion that engineers must write and review vast amounts of code is being challenged. Instead, the emphasis is on how to effectively navigate AI systems to extract the desired results. The implications of this shift are profound, not only for Instacart but also for the broader tech landscape.

The Role of AI in Modern Software Development

At the heart of Instacart's transformation is the staggering amount of repetitive and low-value tasks that engineers typically handle. Kundu revealed that in 97% of cases, Instacart's developers no longer engage with code directly. This is a radical departure from traditional practices, where developers spent significant amounts of time writing and reviewing code. Instead, AI systems now generate code, especially for new projects, with updates occurring as frequently as once a week.

Advantages of AI-Driven Development

The advantages of this approach are particularly noteworthy:

• Reduced Tech Debt: Kundu stated, “We don’t care about tech debt anymore.” By allowing AI to manage and regenerate code, Instacart can drop inactive code and focus on what is essential.
• Increased Efficiency: With AI handling routine tasks, engineers can devote their time to more strategic initiatives that require human intuition and expertise.
• Rapid Adaptation: AI's ability to quickly regenerate code means that Instacart can adapt to changing market demands without being bogged down by legacy systems.

Challenges and the Need for Human Oversight

While the move towards AI-driven development presents numerous benefits, it is not without its challenges. Kundu explains that the remaining 3% of code requires human oversight, particularly in areas involving legacy systems, compliance, and latency-sensitive processes. These components often contain a significant amount of inactive or underutilized code that still demands careful attention.

Instacart is actively working to address these challenges through a project aptly named Atoms, which focuses on breaking down complex systems and rebuilding them in a more modular fashion. This approach allows for greater flexibility and easier management of code.

Innovative Evaluation Models

With AI taking over much of the coding process, traditional code reviews are becoming less relevant. Kundu emphasizes the need to adopt an “intent model,” which trains developers to interact with AI systems effectively. This model shifts the focus from reviewing lines of code to understanding how to ask the right questions and extract the desired outcomes from AI.

To support this transition, Instacart runs approximately 7,000 automatic evaluations each month and boasts a real-time query response accuracy of about 99.9%. This level of precision is critical for maintaining operational integrity while leveraging AI.

Instacart's Agentic SRE System

One particularly exciting development is Instacart's implementation of an agentic Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) system. This system is trained on the company's historical incident data, allowing it to detect and mitigate production issues with remarkable accuracy. Previously, human teams struggled with a 60% accuracy rate in identifying problems, but with the new SRE system, that number has surged to over 90%.

For example, during a recent incident involving a database shard, the internal tool Blueberry monitored communications across 200 Slack channels to identify potential issues. It quickly diagnosed a problem with an AWS disk that the human team had missed, illustrating how AI can enhance problem-solving capabilities.

Redefining Engineering Roles

As Instacart embraces AI, the role of engineers is evolving. Rather than being the primary code creators, engineers are becoming navigators of AI systems. Their responsibilities are shifting towards:

• Designing and supervising evaluation processes
• Coordinating multiple experiments and features
• Identifying edge cases and potential system failures

This transition necessitates a rethinking of domain expertise. Instacart is democratizing code access across teams, allowing different groups to contribute without bottlenecking changes through a single ownership model. Kundu elaborated on this shift, stating that they are moving towards a world where code modifications can be made by anyone with the right knowledge, not just a select few.

Key Takeaways

• AI is drastically reducing tech debt, allowing companies to focus on essential code.
• Engineers are transitioning from code creators to AI navigators, emphasizing strategic problem-solving.
• Instacart's agentic SRE system has significantly improved the accuracy of issue detection and resolution.
• The democratization of code access is reshaping how development teams collaborate and innovate.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is Instacart using AI in its development process?

Instacart employs AI to handle the majority of code generation and repetitive tasks, allowing engineers to focus on complex problem-solving. This shift not only enhances productivity but also reduces the burden of tech debt, enabling more agile responses to market demands.

What challenges does Instacart face with AI implementation?

While AI significantly improves efficiency, there are challenges associated with legacy systems and the need for human oversight in specific areas. Instacart is working to address these issues through modular system design and a focus on maintaining critical, compliance-related code.

How is the role of engineers changing at Instacart?

Engineers at Instacart are moving away from traditional coding tasks towards roles that focus on navigating AI systems. Their responsibilities now include designing evaluation processes, coordinating experiments, and identifying edge cases, emphasizing the importance of strategic thinking and domain expertise.

What is Instacart's agentic SRE system?

The agentic SRE system at Instacart is an AI-driven tool that analyzes historical incident data to improve the accuracy of identifying and resolving production issues. By learning from past incidents, it has significantly enhanced the company's ability to detect and mitigate problems, achieving over 90% accuracy in issue resolution.