Studying, Identifying, and Fixing Hidden Technical Debt in AI-Intensive Cyber-Physical Systems
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) components are increasingly pervasive in several software systems, including Cyber-Physical Systems (CPSs). AI-CPS are used in several domains, including autonomous vehicles, industry, home automation, robotics, and healthcare. Being composed of hardware, AI components, and conventional modules, AI-CPS can exhibit technical debt (TD) that is peculiar and potentially more challenging than that of conventional systems. This thesis aims to characterize AI-CPS TD and propose approaches for its identification and repair. In a first phase, we characterize AI-CPS TD by analyzing AI ecosystems and AI-CPS repositories, as well as interviewing developers. Based on the acquired knowledge, we define approaches to identify and mitigate such TD. Finally, we plan to develop and validate an automated tool that supports agentic AI solutions to monitor, govern, and repay AI-CPS TD.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2608.02638,
title = {Studying, Identifying, and Fixing Hidden Technical Debt in AI-Intensive Cyber-Physical Systems},
author = {Beena},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2608.02638},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
Doctoral Symposium of the 41st IEEE/ACM International Conference on Automated Software Engineering (ASE 2026)