Becoming a Generative AI User: Social Learning and Responsible Engagement in Software Development

As generative AI becomes integrated into software development, this paper explores how developers adopt and make sense of it—not as a rational choice but as a socially learned and interpretive process. We examine how developers become AI users through social exposure, peer learning, and shifting perceptions of usefulness and risk. The study combines netnography of Reddit communities with interviews with software developers. Using Becker’s three-step model—learning to use, recognise effects, and enjoy—we trace how developers move from experimentation to integrated AI use. Contrasting with models like the Technology Adoption Model (TAM), we argue that Generative AI adoption is not a binary of acceptance or resistance, but a culturally embedded process shaped by evolving norms and community practices. This perspective “de-exceptionalizes” AI and offers a more grounded, human-centred understanding of how professional practices evolve with emerging technologies.