Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is already changing the way software is developed. At the same time, its direct use still raises questions about security, data privacy, and reliability. The European research project GENIUS (Generative Artificial Intelligence for the Software Development Life Cycle) is addressing these challenges together with over 30 industry and research partners, such as ifak, Akkodis and Siemens. The partners are combining their expertise to make generative AI usable throughout the entire software development life cycle (SDLC), from requirements definition to maintenance.
The project is part of ITEA, the EUREKA research cluster for software innovation, and is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR). The goal is to develop scalable, reliable, and industry-tested AI solutions that support software engineers with automated code generation, intelligent testing and documentation systems, continuous quality analysis, and chat-based support.
A central result of GENIUS is the vision paper “The Future of Generative AI in Software Engineering,” published on November 20, 2025, which highlights the full potential of generative AI for the software development cycle, defines the necessary technical, organizational, and ethical frameworks, and presents a clear five-year vision with new developer roles and outlines technological and methodological advances for the practical use of trustworthy AI. The paper was presented as a conference contribution at the 2nd IEEE/ACM International Conference on AI-powered Software (AIware 2025) in Seoul and also published as a white paper for a wider audience.
The complete vision paper can be found here.
With its cross-industry approach, GENIUS strengthens Europe's technological sovereignty and innovative power in the field of trustworthy AI and paves the way for a new generation of intelligent, responsible software development.
