To be, or not to be, that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler for a software developer to bow out gracefully when faced with an ethically questionable task, or to eat thy morals to continue to make ends meet…or however the speech goes.

Software developers are increasingly faced with ethical dilemmas at their jobs, according to a research paper authored by scholars from the University of Oslo and Peace Research Institute Oslo. According to the paper, published online in January, over half of a sample pool of 421 developers admitted they’ve felt regret about the social impact of a project they’ve worked on while employed at their current company. The survey was conducted by RIWI, an “AI-powered” research firm, in 2024.

Most engineers confess they would turn a blind eye when placed in a compromising position at work. Almost three-fourths (74%) of respondents said they would implement a tool or feature that would restrict “certain human freedoms or liberties” (e.g., creating a security feature that surveils citizens).

What’s bringing developers down?—BM

Hate continuous component testing? There’s an agent for that—at least, if you work at JPMorgan Chase.

Michele Willis, the head of core engineering solutions at Chase, sat down with IT Brew to discuss how the financial institution developed its AI agent for continuous component testing. That agent has been integrated into the workflow in 80 services across the company.

“When you get tired or bored of something like writing test cases, you tend to get less focused on it, maybe not as rigorous as you would be,” Willis said. “By allowing a developer to review a test suite, instead of writing all of them, you can really bring what they know about the code much more clearly to the quality testing outcomes.”

And the agent’s next phase just might be fixing the code.—CN

“Please take me with you,” was one of the Chatty Cathy doll’s phrases. For IT pros, chatbots are coming along whether they like it or not.

When companies and consumers interact with AI, it’s most often with a digital assistant. Chatbots have become an integral part of IT pro workflows, from the help desk to building software.

But with that ubiquity comes danger. Chatbots present an expansion of the threat surface, one that Dane Sherrets, HackerOne staff innovation architect, told IT Brew is exacerbated by executive interest in the technology.

“Over the last few years, there’s been a, ‘I have a hammer, so everything needs to look like a nail’ problem,” Sherrets said. “And not only does everything look like a nail—boards, investors, and company’s leadership are saying, ‘Hey, you better use that hammer in the form of AI.’”

A CTO offers three important tips.—EH