AI emerges as influential driver of future growth of API

Although microservices continue to be the main driver of API growth, artificial intelligence (AI) is emerging as an increasingly influential driver in future growth of APIs, new research has found.

SmartBear, a provider of software development and visibility tools, released the results of its 2023 State of Software Quality | API survey, which garnered responses from more than 1,100 API practitioners in more than 17 industries. 

First published in 2016, SmartBear has regularly surveyed the API community to identify industry benchmarks, including trends, best practices, methodologies, and tools used by developer teams to manage the API lifecycle.

"As the API industry continues to rapidly evolve, we are excited to share the most up-to-date API development and management trends, and the factors contributing to its growth now and in the years ahead," says Sean Butler, Vice President of API Product Management at SmartBear . 

"There are several interesting findings this year, including APIs supporting event-driven API architectures has increased, we are seeing a positive trend in API documentation, and API standardisation and security continue to be the top challenges for development teams worldwide," he says.

Key insights of the 2023 State of Software Quality | API survey include:

• APIs supporting event-driven API architectures have increased (62%) while web APIs remain the top experience that APIs are supporting (88%) with mobile close behind. 
• Sixty two per cent of respondents attribute microservices as the top driver for API growth while 53% believe the top challenge for the success of microservices hinges on having the right experience and skills.
• Ninety per cent of respondents have documentation in place or plan to have it in place in the future, while 60% of organisawtions agree or strongly agree that having documentation processes ensure their APIs are secure. 

With rapid API growth introducing fragmentation in how APIs are designed, built, and secured, API standardisation (51%) and security (40%) continue to be the top challenges that organisations want to solve, the research found.  

It also found organisations are making strides to have formal testing processes in place. In 2023, there was a 15% increase in companies making formal testing a priority. 

Other findings of the research showed that as teams try to do more with less, APIs are seen as a means to improve automation across the delivery process. Practitioners also expect API tooling to integrate better with existing tooling as APIs cover most organisational capabilities.