'AI enables engineers to complete weeks of work in a single day': Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu
Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu stated that AI tools enable their engineers to complete work that would have taken weeks in a single day, but only with human oversight and final responsibility.
- Dec 16, 2025,
- Updated Dec 16, 2025 3:42 PM IST
Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and chief scientist at enterprise software giant Zoho, has provided a striking insight into the accelerating impact of Artificial Intelligence on software development. He revealed that AI coding tools are allowing the company’s engineers to deliver output that previously took weeks, all within a single working day. This remarkable increase in productivity highlights how AI is being deployed not as a replacement for human talent, but as a sophisticated amplifier of expertise across the company’s vast development infrastructure.
Vembu recently shared an anecdote detailing the efficiency gains of one of Zoho’s most seasoned engineers, a veteran with two decades of experience focusing on performance-critical UI work. This engineer reported shipping features that would historically have required three full weeks of intense labour, now complete in just one day. Vembu stressed that this speed is contingent upon human oversight. In this synergistic workflow, the experienced engineer is responsible for providing the initial structure, whilst the AI system 'fleshes out' the granular details, demanding the engineer constantly draw upon their deep domain knowledge and expertise for final validation.
Additionally, Zoho’s approach is defined by its non-mandated policy. Vembu has made it clear that the company does not "force feed or mandate AI tools," choosing instead to leave those decisions to experienced engineers. This measured deployment reflects earlier warnings from Vembu regarding the potential for technical debt and security vulnerabilities inherent in unreviewed, machine-generated code. He insists engineers must "review and approve all the code and take full responsibility for it."
The benefits extend beyond senior staff. Vembu noted that a less experienced team member was able to build an internal tool, now in use across several teams, which they "could not have built without AI." This demonstrates the technology's capacity to significantly lower the barrier to entry for complex project work. Overall, Vembu reports the team is "very bullish" on AI, particularly for UI work, reinforcing a philosophy where technology serves to augment human judgment and accelerate innovation at a breathtaking pace.
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Sridhar Vembu, co-founder and chief scientist at enterprise software giant Zoho, has provided a striking insight into the accelerating impact of Artificial Intelligence on software development. He revealed that AI coding tools are allowing the company’s engineers to deliver output that previously took weeks, all within a single working day. This remarkable increase in productivity highlights how AI is being deployed not as a replacement for human talent, but as a sophisticated amplifier of expertise across the company’s vast development infrastructure.
Vembu recently shared an anecdote detailing the efficiency gains of one of Zoho’s most seasoned engineers, a veteran with two decades of experience focusing on performance-critical UI work. This engineer reported shipping features that would historically have required three full weeks of intense labour, now complete in just one day. Vembu stressed that this speed is contingent upon human oversight. In this synergistic workflow, the experienced engineer is responsible for providing the initial structure, whilst the AI system 'fleshes out' the granular details, demanding the engineer constantly draw upon their deep domain knowledge and expertise for final validation.
Additionally, Zoho’s approach is defined by its non-mandated policy. Vembu has made it clear that the company does not "force feed or mandate AI tools," choosing instead to leave those decisions to experienced engineers. This measured deployment reflects earlier warnings from Vembu regarding the potential for technical debt and security vulnerabilities inherent in unreviewed, machine-generated code. He insists engineers must "review and approve all the code and take full responsibility for it."
The benefits extend beyond senior staff. Vembu noted that a less experienced team member was able to build an internal tool, now in use across several teams, which they "could not have built without AI." This demonstrates the technology's capacity to significantly lower the barrier to entry for complex project work. Overall, Vembu reports the team is "very bullish" on AI, particularly for UI work, reinforcing a philosophy where technology serves to augment human judgment and accelerate innovation at a breathtaking pace.
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