Innovation Insights Series

Exploring the future of software engineering with AI agents

Artificial intelligence is reshaping software development. AI agents powered by large language models can increasingly support tasks across the software engineering lifecycle, from requirements and coding to testing and maintenance.

But as these capabilities grow, so do the questions about how we should use them.

Join uOttawa Kanata North and the Centre for Applied AI at the Faculty of Engineering for the next Innovation Insights session. It will exploring the opportunities, challenges and open questions surrounding agentic software development.

What we'll cover

The session will examine both the new challenges that AI agents introduce and the software engineering problems that remain as relevant as ever:

• Reliability of AI agents: How can we ensure agents behave reliably and produce dependable results?

• Software quality and security: How should we validate, and safeguard software developed or supported by AI agents?

• The evolving role of engineers: What new skills and practices will engineers need as they increasingly work with AI agents?

• Human–AI collaboration: How can people effectively interact with, supervise and orchestrate AI agents?

• Enduring engineering challenges: How do we translate user intent into systems that meet real needs, and keep those systems maintainable and adaptable as requirements evolve?

• Opportunities for AI: Where can AI agents help address longstanding software engineering challenges?

• Research and industry collaboration: How can academia and industry work together to turn technological advances into dependable software and effective engineering practices?

AI agents are advancing rapidly, but technological capability alone does not determine their value.

This session will look beyond the hype to examine what these advances mean for software engineering practice and what it takes to use AI agents effectively and responsibly in real-world environments.

The presentation will be followed by a discussion and audience Q&A. You'll get to share perspectives, raise questions and explore the implications for your organizations and the broader software engineering community.

Speakers

Lionel Briand
Centre for Applied AI
Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa

Boqi Chen
Centre for Applied AI
Faculty of Engineering, University of Ottawa

Who should attend

Software engineering professionals, developers, researchers and organizations interested in how AI agents are impacting software development and engineering practices.

Date: October 27, 2026
Time: 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Location: uOttawa Kanata North, 350 Legget Drive, Suite 300, Kanata, ON