AI Reshapes Large-Scale Software Engineering

Siniša Krajnović regards artificial intelligence as one of the most consequential technological changes of the present era. “This may be the biggest change in the history of human civilisation,” Siniša Krajnović, President of the Management Board and CEO of Ericsson Nikola Tesla, tells ICTbusiness Media – ICTbusiness.info. His assessment reflects the scale of the transformation now facing companies whose operations depend on software engineering.

Ericsson Nikola Tesla employs approximately 3,000 ICT professionals, including more than 2,000 people involved in software development. For a company with that profile, AI affects not only individual productivity but the structure of its core business. “We are talking about a fundamental transformation,” Krajnović says.

Krajnović identifies three main areas of change. The first concerns the company’s own operations, including procurement, finance, and internal decision-making. The second covers products and solutions, among them telecommunications technologies related to 5G and 6G and systems developed for public-sector customers. “Artificial intelligence is entering our products and processes,” Krajnović explains.

The third area, which he considers the most significant, is the transformation of software development itself. Rather than using AI solely to help write code, the objective is to redesign the process from requirements and planning through implementation, testing and delivery. This includes agent-based approaches capable of assisting with successive stages of development. “The biggest change is in the way we develop software,” Krajnović emphasises.

A substantial part of this work takes place within the wider Ericsson organisation. Krajnović refers to a development centre with approximately 1,700 employees working in an integrated manner with around 20,000 specialists across the global group. Such collaboration transforms both an international engineering challenge and a practical issue for teams in Croatia. “We are part of a global development system,” Krajnović says.

The company also develops domestic systems, particularly for public services such as healthcare and land administration. In these projects, technological changes must be aligned with the needs and procedures of the organisations using the software. AI cannot deliver the full benefit if the underlying process remains unchanged.

Krajnović insists that greater automation must not eliminate human responsibility. Engineers still need to understand customer requirements, validate results and remain accountable for what is delivered. “The human being must remain in control,” he concludes. For Ericsson Nikola Tesla, the opportunity is not simply to produce software faster, but to reshape complex development work while preserving the judgement on which reliable systems depend.