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Replit, a cloud software development platform with 20 million users, announced a new strategic partnership with Google Cloud on Tuesday that will give its developers access to Google’s infrastructure, services and base models for generative AI.
The partnership also enables Google Cloud and Workspace developers to use Replit’s collaborative code-editing platform, which allows them to create and share online applications.
The partnership reflects Google Cloud’s commitment to building an open AI ecosystem capable of generating code. For Replit, the partnership is the next step towards the goal of supporting a billion software makers.
The announcement comes just a week after Github announced the launch of Copilot X, an upgraded version of its AI-driven software development platform that uses the latest OpenAI GPT-4 model and extends Copilot’s capabilities by adding chat and voice features and empowering developers. enable direct answers to questions about projects.
This creates a battle between Microsoft (owner of GitHub and a strategic investor in OpenAI) and Google to determine which company can provide the most compelling platform and tools for software developers.
Create and launch apps in seconds With Replit
Replit says so Ghost Writer application will use Google’s language models to suggest blocks of code, complete programs, and answer developer questions instantly. More than 30% of code written by developers using Ghostwriter is generated by AI, according to the company. The most advanced language models can generate entire programs from simple natural language prompts, enabling entire websites to be created in minutes with no coding experience.
But even the most powerful language models cannot execute code themselves. Models that work as standalone chatbots have no context about a project. They require developers to copy and paste code from the development environment to the chat app, leading to inefficiencies. The models also do not know how to achieve a developer’s goal or run a program within the integrated development environment.
Until language models are integrated into development environments, the future envisioned by Amjad Masad, CEO of Replit, changes in which AI helps non-developers become developers, turns software engineers into hyper-productive “10x engineers” and enables 1000x productivity for complex software, remains out of reach.
Google Docs for coding
Founded in San Francisco in 2016, Replit has quickly developed a dedicated user base as the “first fully online multiplayer computing environment”. The platform allows anyone to start coding without any downloads or configuration. It’s like Google Docs, but for coding.
The platform supports over 50 programming languages and allows users to build apps and websites through any browser and device (including mobile). It also facilitates collaboration and project sharing, as well as access to containers for code execution.
While much attention is focused on flashy announcements like GPT-4, Claude, and other chatbots that use AI to generate natural language, the integration of AI into software development platforms is progressing quietly and making it easier for beginners to create applications. With Microsoft using GPT-4 in its Github programming tools and Google teaming up with Replit, a start-up that offers an online coding platform, the competition is heating up to see who can provide the best environment for developers.
The future of software development may very well depend on how well AI can write code.
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