LO
CapabilityCognitive automation2024-04-27
GPT-4 drafts of a software requirements specification matched an entry-level engineer's quality and took 7 to 47 times less time once requirements were specified
Business analystoccupation page →
Event date / reported
2024-04-27
Evidence stage
CapabilityA demo, benchmark or paper shows the task can be done. Updates what the technology can do — not what employers will do.
Tasks this bears on
Writing requirements and user stories
Turning what was learned into requirement documents, specifications and user stories that developers and testers can work from.
Being augmented✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
A study comparing GPT-4 and CodeLlama with human benchmarks in drafting a requirements specification for a university student-club management portal, graded on eight criteria. It reports that the models can match the output quality of an entry-level software engineer, and that human documents took 4 to 24 hours once the requirements were specified while the model drafts took 7 to 47 times less time, though they were hard to get right the first time. The requirements were given, not elicited.
What this means
Once someone knows what is needed, writing the specification is fast work for a model. The time-consuming, valuable part is knowing what is needed — which this study handed to the model ready-made.
What it does not yet show
A single university project with requirements given in advance; not a measure of real projects.
What you can check
Open arXiv 2404.17842 and find "match the output quality of an entry-level software engineer".
Does it change the assessment?
No — and this stage does not move it either. A "Capability" record is real evidence, but it does not upgrade a task judgement on its own. The 1 linked judgement above stand where they were.
Source
Krishna et al. (IIIT Delhi, Wadhwani AI) — Using LLMs in Software Requirements Specifications: An Empirical Evaluation, arXiv 2404.17842 (submitted 27 Apr 2024) · verified 2026-09-29 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-09-29 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.