AI, Agentic Development, and the Future of Software Engineering with Manjunath Bhat, Distinguished VP Analyst, Gartner

Manjunath Bhat leads software engineering research at Gartner and has been one of the most thoughtful voices tracking what AI is actually doing to the way we build software — not just the productivity story, but the structural changes to teams, platforms, and careers. He's a returning keynote speaker at apidays Singapore and apidays Australia.In this conversation we cover:The shift from AI-augmented human work to agent-driven development — and why Manju deliberately avoids calling these tools "peer programmers"Why the prototype-to-production gap hasn't closed, and where the real friction still livesThe hidden downside of vibe coding: when you fully offload to AI, you stop learning tooHow platform engineering is evolving from template-based governance to embedding intelligence directly into the development workflowThe three mismatches platform teams now have to resolve: speed, determinism, and accountabilityWhat junior engineers should actually focus on as AI absorbs more entry-level workWhy Gartner's position is that creativity — not productivity — will be the new measure of engineering excellenceManju will be delivering a keynote at apidays Singapore, 14–15 April 2026.Connect with Manju: linkedin.com/in/manjunathbhatapidays Singapore 2026: apidays.global/singaporeTheLoopAsia: www.theloop.asia