Google CEO Sundar Pichai.
Google is working on a secret project that uses machine learning to train code to be written, fixed and updated.
The project is part of Google’s efforts in the area of so-called generative AI, which uses algorithms to generate images, videos, code and more. This approach could have a big impact on the future of Google and its developers.
The project originally began inside Alphabet’s secret development lab X under the codename “Pitchfork,” according to a person familiar with the matter. It was transferred to Google Labs.
The move to Google means that the project is of increasing importance among top management. That’s because Google Labs is a division that works on long-term investments, including VR/AR projects.
Pitchfork is now being researched by the AI Developer Assistance lab, led by longtime X employee Olivia Hatarski, who has worked on Google Glass and other moonshot projects. there is Hatarski joined the lab when Pitchfork moved to Google.
Pitchfork was created to “teach people how to write and rewrite code,” according to internal documents reviewed by Insider. The tool is designed to learn programming styles and write new code based on that learning, according to testimonies from people familiar with the matter and patents that Insider has seen. A Google representative said:
“The team works closely with the research team. They work together to explore different use cases to help developers.”
Pitchfork’s original goal was to create a tool that could update code written in Python, Google’s development language, to newer versions, a Google representative said. A person familiar with the early days of the project said, “The idea was basically, ‘How do we go from one version to the next without hiring new people?'”
Over time, however, the goal of the project shifted to creating a general-purpose system that didn’t require humans to write or update code, while maintaining code quality. An X job listing, which has been posted for some time since the end of 2021, says Hatarski works on a team “building the future of software engineering.”
The Boom of Generative AI
Tech companies like Google have already made big strides in generative AI.
Microsoft-owned GitHub has announced a tool called Copilot that suggests snippets of code and functionality for developers to type. Developers are using Copilot to generate up to 40% of their code, and GitHub expects that number to double within the next five years, Bloomberg reports.
Google is also working on several other AI code projects. DeepMind, which is also affiliated with Alphabet, has a system called AlphaCode that uses AI to generate code, but now it’s competitive coding, that is, writing programs at a competitive level. Focusing.
Google is also working on a tool similar to GitHub’s Copilot that uses machine learning to generate suggestions for code snippets entered by developers. Douglas Eck, senior research director at Google, said at an event in New York in early November that coding iteration times improved by 6% among Googlers who used the tool.
Google’s AI Developer Assistance Program goes one step further and is working to train the system to do more work for itself. The project is still in its early stages, and Google must also consider troubling ethical considerations such as bias and potential copyright issues around how these models are trained.
Earlier this month, a class action lawsuit was filed against GitHub, alleging that its copilot tool violated “software privacy on an unprecedented scale” by using AI to replicate open source code, according to The Verge. reports.
[original text]
(Edited by Ayuko Tokiwa)
Source: BusinessInsider
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