Do you think that AI-generated code will amplify existing problems, or solve them? (Thinking of technical debt, security issues etc.)
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I believe there multiple aspects to consider:
- Developer productivity: Generative AI will at a minimum accelerate development; get started on new projects more quickly, maybe optimize code, or probe it. I anticipate that AI won’t be 100% correct on the first attempt. So, there’s some human review/ tweaking/ debugging needed.
- Security: I would assume that it is no less secure than the code a developer creates.
- Technical debt: It could likely help you sweat the asset or have your existing developers run more projects.
It’ll be good to see more studies and benchmarks on this over time — beyond the hypotheses how it *should* work and the assumptions what it *will* enable…
The implications of generative AI on your organization will be as positive / negative as your governance and policy.
With no direction or policy, developers will each independently decide on:
- Where the lines for responsible and irresponsible usage of AI are,
- What degree of automation / human oversight is acceptable
- Whether they care about bias, factual inaccuracies or hallucinations
With a well informed policy and governance you can ensure the developers are able to utilize the massive productivity gain, while also increasing quality of work without amplifying existing issues
The impact of AI-generated code on existing problems can be both positive and negative. To ensure its benefits are realized and potential drawbacks are mitigated, responsible development practices, ethical considerations, ongoing evaluation, and human oversight are essential.
AI-generated code has the potential to improve productivity, so long as controls are in place to fully vet the code for conformance to standards. Code reviews, penetration testing will continue to be required. However, there is also potential for intellectual property challenges associated with AI-generated code. We have yet to see how the legal status and IP practices for AI-generated code will play out.
Like any copy-paste of code, the probability of faster distribution becomes higher. Considering its AI, the probability of fixing it faster too is higher!