AI software will replace engineers?

We live in an era of remarkable technological advancements, particularly Artificial Intelligence‘s rapid and storm-like development. These tools can analyze and learn from massive volumes of data, empowering them to tackle intricate problems and execute diverse tasks. 

Every individual and business is swiftly adopting AI, utilizing AI tools has become a mandatory skill in recruitment. For instance, ChatGPT achieved a milestone of 100 million users just two months after its launch, making it the fastest-growing application in history. Similarly, GitHub Copilot has become widely sought-after for their ability to generate code, review, debug programs, and provide coding suggestions.

As Artificial Intelligence (AI) continues to evolve, what impacts software developers and programmers? This article will consider AI’s effects on various perspectives and suggest some AI tools for your coding.

What Challenges Does AI Present?

While AI has vast potential, it also poses significant challenges. Quality and reliability of generated content is a primary concern, as AI models may produce nonsensical or inappropriate outputs due to their limited understanding of context and nuance.

Additionally, training these models demands substantial data and computational resources, which can be a hurdle for smaller organizations or researchers. These challenges emphasize the importance of continuous research, cautious implementation, and thoughtful regulation as AI progresses.

Can AI Replace Software Engineers?

While AI undoubtedly excels in speed and accuracy for certain tasks, humans still outshine it in areas that demand creativity, critical thinking, problem-solving, and originality. AI is not replacing coders; instead, it is undeniably impacting the way things are accomplished in the tech industry.

AI cannot create large software projects on its own. AI needs specific commands and direct instructions from humans to provide code. Furthermore, AI often produces code that is incorrect or contains bugs, so a human needs to review it to ensure it is correct. 

Current AI tools have limitations in comprehending abstract concepts, contextual understanding, and the subtleties of human language and requirements. They are unable to make ethical judgments, consider the societal impact of software, or innovate in the same way as humans do.

Therefore, while AI can be a powerful tool in a software engineer’s toolkit, helping to automate specific tasks and improving productivity, it is not likely to replace software engineers entirely.

Collaborative potential of AI

While artificial intelligence can make some things easier and faster, humans still have control over decision-making, creativity, and the overall effectiveness of the software development process.

As a result, software developers have to utilize AI-powered tools into their workflows. AI can help software teams perform various activities, including automation of repetitive tasks, simple analysis, software debugging, and testing. With AI, coders can increase their efficiency and save time by automating manual coding tasks.

In reality, data from GitHub shows that almost 92% of developers already use AI in their work. Machine learning skills are gradually becoming a mandatory requirement in the field of Information Technology specifically, and in all other professions in general. Software engineers cannot afford to stay on the sidelines of the AI revolution; instead, they must leverage AI as a tool to enhance productivity.

Top 5 AI tools for coding

sourceCode  is a trusted team of developers and consultants with decades of experience in web and software development. We’ve proudly served hundreds of clients since our foundation in 2003. We are always ready to adapt to technological advancements, and incorporating AI tools into our work is one way we embrace change. Let’s explore five useful coding tools together, courtesy of sourceCode.

• Tabnine

Tabnine https://www.tabnine.com/ is an AI tool for coding that helps developers write code faster and better, which boosts productivity. Tabnine works with many programming languages, including Python, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Go, and Rust.

Pros:

• Accurate and relevant suggestions
• Fast and efficient
• Free for individual developers

Cons:

• Not available for all programming languages
• Tabnine may interact badly with other installed extensions

 

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot /https://github.com/features/copilot/ is one of the best AI tools for coding on the market. It uses OpenAI Codex, a language model trained on public code and text.

Pros:

• Can work with many different IDEs, such as Visual Studio Code, IntelliJ IDEA, and Atom.
• Figure out possible security weaknesses in your code
• Free for individual developers

Cons:

• GitHub Copilot’s suggestions can be distracting, especially if you’re not used to AI code completion tools.

Amazon CodeWhisperer

Amazon CodeWhisperer /https://aws.amazon.com/vi/codewhisperer// generates code suggestions ranging from snippets to full functions in real-time in the IDE based on your comments and existing code. It also supports CLI completions and natural-language-to-bash translation in the command line.

 

Pros:

• Can use it with JetBrains IDEs, Visual Studio Code, AWS Cloud9, and other 
• Tracking references and conducting security scans
• Integrated with AWS services

Cons:

• Amazon CodeWhisperer is still under development

DeepCode

DeepCode /https://snyk.io/platform/deepcode-ai// is a comprehensive bug dectection AI tool. It uses machine learning algorithms to find bugs. It can also detect performance issues and security vulnerabilities in the code, making it an extremely useful tool for a programmer’s arsenal.

Pros:

• Supports C, C++, TypeScript, JavaScript, Python, Java, and lots of other well-known languages
• The community updates DeepCode in real time to allow it to track changes in codebases

Cons:

• False positives are possible
• It can’t detect how a function will execute

CodeWP

CodeWP is an AI-powered tool specifically designed to generate WordPress code. It simplifies the coding process for WordPress developers, allowing them to quickly generate code for tasks such as creating custom post types or plugins for WordPress.

Pros:

• Create complex workflows based on ACF values
• Write code for WordPress core or major plugins like WooCommerce, ACF, and page builders

Cons:

• Can be expensive

Conclusions

As we have previously discussed, AI tools cannot replace software developers. However, these tools can greatly enhance the coding experience and automate workflows for developers. As the coding landscape evolves, AI tools will continue to play a significant role, making coding more efficient, accessible, and even more exciting.

Let’s explore AI’s abilities in the software development industry with sourceCode – leading IT insourcing & outsourcing company.