How GE Aerospace uses Devin to invent the future of flight

GE Aerospace has been advancing the technology of flight for more than a century.

In 1917, GE developed a turbocharger that helped aircraft engines perform at altitude. The technology later powered American bombers during World War II. In 1942, GE built America's first jet engine. Today, GE Aerospace engine technology powers 3 out of every 4 commercial flights worldwide.

Its software teams build the systems airlines rely on to fly safely and efficiently. Flight data monitoring helps identify anomalies. Airspace efficiency helps airlines optimize approach and departure routes. Fuel insight helps them reduce fuel consumption.

The ambition is to use software to help customers fly more — without adding another airplane, runway, or pilot.

But demand for that software keeps growing.

"Customers are saying, I like your product, but I would really love it if you did this or that feature. They just want more. But there's so much more to do."

— Nate Hicks, VP Product Management

Those requests compete for engineering capacity.

GE Aerospace started adopting Devin with a small group of engineers and a set of concrete test cases, including legacy code modernization.

Rather than rolling it out across the organization at once, the team expanded adoption as engineers demonstrated where Devin could take on useful work.

"When you're selling software, there's always a 'hey, go adopt it, buy this big package.' That really wasn't the sales motion Cognition came with. You helped us craft a process, and then we gradually rolled it out."

— Nate Hicks

Today, engineers are using Devin across more of the software development lifecycle.

A product owner can give Devin a complex feature and have it generate user stories grounded in the actual codebase — compressing work that previously required days of translation between product and engineering.

Devin can then work through development and testing, with engineers directing and reviewing the work.

"It used to be that you'd develop, then hand the code off to a tester, and the tester would hand it off to the person pushing it into production with DevOps. Now you can do that start to finish all through Devin."

— Nate Hicks

The impact showed up quickly.

"One of our teams was on the smaller side and constrained in what they could do. Over the last three months, we've seen almost a 2x output in capacity for user stories coming out of the system. It's just such a force multiplier."

— Nate Hicks

That additional capacity means engineers can get to more of the work customers are asking for.

"We're shipping software like never before," Hicks says.

For Andrew Coleman, President & General Manager of GE Aerospace's software business, the bigger change is what engineers themselves are able to accomplish.

"Your team really made a difference. What you've given us is the equivalent of giving a Gibson guitar to Jimi Hendrix. The unlock is amazing. I feel like I'm surrounded by a team that is able to get very close, if not totally, to their God-given potential."

— Andrew Coleman, President & General Manager, Software

For GE Aerospace, AI is becoming another tool its engineers can use to push the boundaries of what they can build — and ultimately deliver more for the airlines that depend on them.