Rethinking Correctness and Efficiency in AI-Assisted Code Generation


Altunel H., Erdogan T. G., KOLUKISA A.

21th International Conference on Evaluation of Novel Approaches to Software Engineering, ENASE 2026, Benidorm, İspanya, 22 - 24 Mayıs 2026, cilt.1, ss.200-209, (Tam Metin Bildiri)

  • Yayın Türü: Bildiri / Tam Metin Bildiri
  • Cilt numarası: 1
  • Doi Numarası: 10.5220/0014971000004015
  • Basıldığı Şehir: Benidorm
  • Basıldığı Ülke: İspanya
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.200-209
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Code Generation, Correctness, Efficiency, Large Language Model, Productivity, Software Development
  • Hacettepe Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

Large Language Models (LLMs) have significantly advanced the software engineering life cycle by automating code generation, yet evaluations have traditionally relied heavily on functional correctness metrics like Pass@k. Such correctness-only assessments often mask critical deficiencies in computational efficiency, including computational overhead, memory footprint, and long-term maintainability. To address this gap, this study systematically surveys eight rigorous benchmarking studies to review the current evaluation landscape of AI-assisted code generation. By analyzing benchmarking methodologies, datasets, and multi-dimensional performance metrics, we highlight the severe efficiency gap between LLM-generated code and optimal human expert baselines. Ultimately, this paper outlines the current boundaries of generative AI in software development and identifies critical research gaps, advocating for a paradigm shift toward rigorous, hardware-agnostic compound metrics and stress testing to achieve truly scalable and efficient AI-assisted programming.