Nicholas Arcolano, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist / Jellyfish
The biggest barrier to AI adoption isn't the technology.
It's measurement, organizational readiness, and knowing what's actually working. I'm a researcher and advisor focused on AI's real-world impact on software engineering.
In my role as Chief Scientist at Jellyfish, my team and I study AI adoption using the largest engineering dataset in the industry: 1,300+ companies and more than 100 million pull requests. We turn what we find into guidance for leaders putting AI into practice.
selected
talkAI Engineer New York · 2026-10
It's Not the Model, It's You
podcastAI Native Dev · 2026-06
Why Developers Hit a Wall at 4 AI Agents
postTessl · 2026-10
There Aren’t Enough Chaperones for All Your Coding Agents
pressTechCrunch · 2026-06
The Token Bill Comes Due: Inside the Industry Scramble to Manage AI's Runaway Costs
01 / Writing & Research
I write data-driven research on AI and software engineering. Recent pieces I've authored:
- There Aren’t Enough Chaperones for All Your Coding AgentsTessl · 2026-10
- It's Not the Model, It's YouThe Daily Context (AI Engineer New York) · 2026-10
- Tokens Are Rocket Fuel, Spending Tokens Is Rocket ScienceJellyfish Research · 2026-08
- How to Embrace the Spirit of "Tokenmaxxing" Without Breaking the BankTechRadar Pro · 2026-07
- The State of AI in Software EngineeringJellyfish · 2026-06
show all writing (14 more)
- The Opus 4.7 Tokenizer TaxJellyfish Research · 2026-05
- Teaching Your AI Agent Pays OffJellyfish Research · 2026-04
- Tokenmaxxing and the Agentic BarrierJellyfish Research · 2026-04
- Is "Tokenmaxxing" Cost Effective?Jellyfish · 2026-04
- The AI Divide Is Growing: What 37 Million PRs RevealJellyfish · 2026-04
- Are AI Coding Tools Making Companies More Productive?Jellyfish · 2026-03
- Is AI Finally Taming Bug Backlogs?Jellyfish Research · 2026-02
- Looks Like It Really Was a Claude Christmas After AllJellyfish Research · 2026-02
- AI Is Making Developers Faster — So Where's the Business Impact?Jellyfish · 2026-01
- AI Coding Tools Not Paying Off? Your Code Architecture Might Be to BlameJellyfish · 2025-10
- Better Code, or Just Bigger? AI-Assisted PRs Are 18% LargerJellyfish · 2025-09
- Jellyfish and OpenAI Team Up to Measure the Impact of AI Coding ToolsJellyfish · 2025-08
- AI Use in Engineering Up 260% Year-over-YearJellyfish · 2025-06
- What Will MCP Mean for Engineering Management?Jellyfish · 2025-04
02 / Speaking
Upcoming appearances, plus recent talks and panel discussions on AI and software engineering. Several are available to watch online.
upcoming
- Botsitting Doesn’t Scale: How to Navigate the Autonomy-Trust Gridlock in Real Engineering OrgsaiDevCon · New York · 2026-11
talks
- It's Not the Model, It's YouAI Engineer New York · New York · 2026-10
- Tokens Are Rocket Fuel, Tokenmaxxing Is Rocket ScienceAI Engineer World's Fair · San Francisco · 2026-07
- 20 Million PRs Later: The Truth About AI ProductivityPlatformCon · 2026-06
- AI Benchmarks: What Jellyfish Learned from 20 Million PRsPlatform Engineering · 2026-03
- Beyond Coding Metrics: How to Scale AI for Real Business OutcomesSonar Summit · 2026-03
- What Data from 20 Million Pull Requests Reveal About AI TransformationAI Engineer Code Summit · New York · 2025-11
panels
- AI Engineering Trends: Research PanelJellyfish AI Impact Week · 2026-10
- AI in SDLC: Executive Panel & Hands-on WorkshopAWS · Boston · 2026-07
- Leaders on AI's Impact on the Development Life CycleAWS · Los Angeles · 2026-06
- From Copilots to Agents: The New Era of Software DeliveryJellyfish & Pillar VC · Boston · 2026-03
- AI in Action: Modernizing the SDLCAWS · Palo Alto · 2026-02
show all panels (2 more)
- Hack@Brown PanelBrown University · 2026-02
- AI Benchmarks: What Jellyfish Research Learned from Analyzing 20 Million Pull RequestsJellyfish & Crafted · 2026-01
03 / Podcasts
04 / In the Press
Selected press coverage of my work on AI and software engineering.
- The 8 Software Engineering Metrics AI BrokeLeadDev · 2026-06
- The Token Bill Comes Due: Inside the Industry Scramble to Manage AI's Runaway CostsTechCrunch · 2026-06
- AI "Tokenmaxxing" Fails as a Productivity StrategyBusiness Insider · 2026-05
- The Shift: Productivity, at All CostsLeadDev · 2026-05
- Tokenmaxxing Is Making Developers Less Productive Than They ThinkTechCrunch · 2026-04
show all press (2 more)
- Jellyfish AI Development Study: The Real Sting Has Yet to LandThe New Stack · 2026-03
- AI Coding Boom: More Software Shipped, No Hit to QualityBusiness Insider · 2026-03
05 / Get in Touch
I post regularly on LinkedIn and X about AI and software engineering. I also advise early-stage founders as a founding member of a16z speedrun's Insiders program. For everything else, email is the best way to reach me.