AI Tools in Software Development: A Question of Human Replacement

We’ve all been exposed to artificial intelligence (AI) and how it has found its way into most industries and professions recently. From AI tools for quick writing, content creation, and translation to the somewhat controversial digital art-making and video generators, we’ve heard a lot of legal rights discussions all the way to trading. AI has generated a diverse set of tools that are causing all sorts of heated conversations. We also naturally got to the point where AI tools are impacting software development.  

 More and more software companies want to leverage the growing benefits of AI to be increasingly competitive in a fast-moving market. As that happens, software developers, particularly new tech talent, keep asking themselves: “Will AI developers take our place?” Our take on this answer is right here on this blog. We’re also giving developers valuable insight on different AI tools powering the sector, as well as a detailed list of reasons why AI stands where it does in software development at the moment.  

First Truth: The Benefits of AI Services to Software Engineering 

Accuracy, productivity, efficiency…those are but a few of the main benefits screaming on behalf of AI in software development. AI machine learning (ML) can help improve accuracy and neural networks can fine-tune tasks to drive errors even lower than our usual fault margins. AI tools have become great assistants to human programmers! They certainly help save human time off manual coding and automation compilation, for example, but there are also many other practical benefits of AI for developers: 

1. AI tools can automatically review and check all codes while using ML to gradually enhance performance and save humans from repeat regression tests. Developers can do this by applying AI machine learning to previous projects and user feedback. 
2. A result on above is giving developers more time and freedom to focus on other aspects of their work. 
3. AI can closely monitor user behavior and tailor UI to lower abandon rates and boost conversion. With such an understanding, coders can also weigh the pros and cons of design options to determine the best option for the end user.  
4. Artificial intelligence software can minimize human error by continuously tracking vast system logs and detecting any slight problems at the early stages before they turn into costly disasters. 

There are certainly lots of reasons why AI tools have gotten such a great hype recently. On the contrary, there’s no particular one to hate the progress coming from artificial intelligence, especially for our tech-related needs. Without a doubt, AI brings great potential to web and mobile solution development.  ‍

Why AI Software Is So Popular: Great Development AI Tools 

Another hard truth to this topic is that engineers can indeed use artificial intelligence software to overcome considerable roadblocks and speed up their processes. Some of the most popular tools in the market for software development include:  

The Google ML Kit 

Google has created a name for itself as a legit AI development company. Its Google ML Kit is one of the most popular AI tools for software development at the moment. With it, mobile app developers can integrate ML algorithms with a wide range of APIs while creating innovative, cutting-edge features on Android and iOS. 

TensorFlow 

TensorFlow, originally an R&D tool, works on a comprehensive ML library that can gradually improve AI-based apps to manage many simple and complicated tasks. Those include customer support, legal operations, and even price prediction on trading platforms.  

AWS 

The Amazon Web Service (AWS) is another big name that allows developers to build & test codes, easily deploy apps, and utilize basic tools such as SDKs. It also offers AI services with deep learning algorithms that can dramatically improve coding accuracy over time. 

Related read: Are you using too many or too little development tools? 

But what about the human aspect, though? 

Are AI Tools Going to Replace Human Developers? 

As of now, and despite all of the above, AI tools are nowhere developed enough to serve as autonomous coders. The other very real truth is that AI engineering is still far from being able to build new software or hardware from scratch and sustain an autonomous process with genuine understanding of underlying commercial purposes, especially for every feature in any application.  

Writing code is just not enough. So, thankfully for talent in this coveted industry, everything seems to indicate that software developers need not worry about human replacement for the time being. What makes us say that? We’ve got more for you.  

Why AI Tools Just Aren’t Quite There Yet 

Despite the undeniable benefits AI services can give our software development sector, we’re still working on a significant gray area here. While AI isn’t a major threat, it still has its downsides. Two common drawbacks of it are: 

Hard-to-read Code 

Coding is all about adding a small piece to a whole as software developers most commonly create programs based on other developers’ coding work. For that, being able to read previous coding is essential, weighing the same (if not more) than writing it.  

AI tools are unable to keep from disrupting previous code at this time, and we need tools that can ensure that adding one new function does not disrupt the previous ones. As this is not the case with our AI friends, its full autonomous implementation seems highly unlikely for the time being.  

Lack of Creativity 

It also takes intuition and creativity to understand the exact purpose of a program to develop the functions that serve it. AI software developers are limited in what they can do over trial and error, making them less versatile than human developers. And there’s the gem to what you do in your day-to-day work. Keep going creatively at all you have to offer! 

Flourishing in Your Software Engineering Career 

AI is certainly changing the tech industry and opening up new avenues for growth and innovation, but you should know that it won’t replace human developers – at least not anytime soon. If anything, AI tools will continue to help programmers get more work done in less time while accessing new opportunities in areas such as ML and deep learning. Seize the power AI tools have to offer. The demand is and will continue to be quite high for developers who’re constantly improving their game.  

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