In a win for Google, HCL engineers to use Gemini for coding
In a significant development for the application of generative AI to software engineering, HCL Technologies (HCL Tech) today announced an expanded alliance with Google Cloud to enable 25,000 of its engineers to use Google's Gemini platform to write code, solve problems and improve code quality.
"HCLTech will now enhance the HCLTech AI Force platform with Gemini’s advanced code completion and summarization capabilities, which will allow engineers to generate code, remediate issues and accelerate the delivery time and quality of software projects for clients," it said.
HCL Tech will also use Gemini to build AI-powered industry solutions for clients out of its Cloud Native and AI Labs.
This marks a win for Google Gemini, which is competing with rivals such as ChatGPT to attract enterprise users. Most of the top AI models claim to be very good at coding, with several claiming that they can generate better and more efficient code than humans.
HCL Tech is home to nearly 2.25 lakh employees, a large portion of whom deal with code. While some of them write code for new applications for clients, many others are in charge of testing code and troubleshooting it.
While this was entirely done using human brain power for several years, over the last couple of years, many of the development and testing has been moved to AI platforms. HCL itself had recently launched a specialized "AI Force" whose key strength was its extensive use of generative AI technologies.
Gen AI and Coding
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence that can generate novel content - such as text, images, audio and video - based on patterns learned from training data. Over the past year, generative AI has rapidly advanced and has been applied to many creative and analytical tasks, from writing marketing copy to analyzing financial data.
One of the most promising areas where generative AI is being leveraged is software engineering. AI systems trained on vast repositories of code can generate code snippets, autocomplete programming statements, find and fix bugs, explain code functionality, and more. This can significantly speed up development time, reduce errors and tedious tasks for human programmers, and improve software quality.
Gen AI allows users to auto-generate code based on natural language prompts, summarize code functionality, identify optimizations, and remediate issues faster.
HCL Tech is not alone in tapping the power of generative AI for software development. Microsoft's GitHub Copilot can auto-suggest code and entire functions in real-time right from the code editor. Amazon's CodeWhisperer generalizes code patterns to adapt to a programmer's coding style and can highlight security and bias issues. AI21 Labs' Spice AI plugin understands the context behind a programmer's intent and can edit and refactor code.
As generative AI matures, it holds immense potential to augment human programmers and radically improve the software development lifecycle. By abstracting away the mechanical parts of coding, it can free up developers to focus on higher-level architecture and creative problem solving.
However, generative AI is not yet at a stage where it can autonomously write production-ready code end-to-end. Issues around reliability, security, and explaining the generated code still need to be resolved.
Concerns
Interestingly, rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, particularly generative AI, have raised a challenge for large Indian IT services providers such as TCS, Infosys, Wipro, and HCL Technologies.
For years, these companies have built their success on the backs of their vast pool of skilled software engineers, who have been the driving force behind delivering complex projects to global clients at competitive prices.
However, as AI becomes increasingly sophisticated in its ability to write code and automate various aspects of software development, the demand for human coders may diminish, potentially undermining the core strength of these IT giants.
Many believe that just as automation and robotics have disrupted the traditional business process outsourcing (BPO) industry, where Indian IT firms once held a dominant position, AI could pose a similar threat to their software development services.
With AI-powered tools capable of generating code snippets, identifying bugs, and even creating entire applications based on user requirements, the need for extensive human intervention may gradually decrease. This could lead to a significant reduction in the workforce required to deliver projects, eroding the labor cost advantage that Indian IT companies have long relied upon.
Experts believe that to survive this, Indian IT companies need to invest heavily in developing their own AI capabilities, not just to incorporate AI into their service offerings but also to augment the skills of their existing workforce. This may involve upskilling and reskilling programs to ensure that their engineers can work alongside AI systems, leveraging their domain expertise and problem-solving abilities to provide value-added services.
Furthermore, these companies must pivot towards higher-level work, such as consulting, architecting AI-powered solutions, and managing complex AI implementations for clients. They can also explore new business models, such as creating AI-driven products and platforms that can generate recurring revenue streams, rather than relying solely on project-based work.