Like most tech companies these days, Google is investing heavily in everything related to artificial intelligence (AI). The company is not only pushing its own generative AI products but also using the technology to boost productivity. According to CEO Sundar Pichai, AI is now being used to write about 25% of new code at Google.
During the company's Q3 2024 earnings call, Pichai said Google is "using AI internally to improve our coding processes, which is boosting productivity and efficiency," adding that more than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI.
That kind of claim raises questions about AI replacing human jobs, the errors it introduces, and potential copyright issues, but Pichai said all generated code is reviewed and accepted by engineers. The head of Google added that this helps engineers do more and move faster.
AI-generated and AI-assisted code doesn't have a great reputation. A 2022 study found that when programmers had access to an AI code generator, their output tended to be more error-prone or less secure than "hand-written" solutions. In April 2023, another study put 517 software programming questions to an AI and found that it answered more than half of them incorrectly.
Generative AI keeps improving, but even if it makes fewer mistakes now, a study from earlier this month concluded that using AI coding assistants neither increases productivity nor prevents burnout. Although Pichai noted that engineers still check and review the AI-generated code, it's easy to imagine that using it could have a negative impact on some jobs. That is all the more worrying given that Anat Ashkenazi, Alphabet's new CFO, has said one of her top priorities at the company will be to optimize costs further.
Google's parent company, Alphabet, laid off 12,000 employees, about 6% of its global workforce, last year and is continuing to cut more staff in 2024. Ashkenazi, who spent 23 years at Eli Lilly, praised the company's cost-saving measures but said "any organization can always try harder," and that she will "look for additional opportunities."
Earlier this week, it was reported that Google is developing an AI assistant called Jarvis that can control a user's computer. Jarvis is designed to automate everyday tasks on the web by taking screenshots, interpreting the information, and then clicking buttons or typing text.
Via Techspot
