Google is giving its Bard chatbot the ability to write and debug code.
That’s potentially a big deal for any tech professional who codes for a living (or fun). “Starting now, Bard can help with programming and software development tasks, including code generation, debugging and code explanation,” read Google’s official blog on the matter. “We’re launching these capabilities in more than 20 programming languages including C++, Go, Java, Javascript, Python and Typescript. And you can easily export Python code to Google Colab—no copy and paste required. Bard can also assist with writing functions for Google Sheets.”
By introducing coding to Bard, Google is attempting to catch up with OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which offers similar functionality. Microsoft’s Bing search engine, which relies on the same underlying technology as ChatGPT, can also produce code in response to a prompt.
But even Google has a warning for anyone attempting to generate code via Bard. “Bard is still an early experiment, and may sometimes provide inaccurate, misleading or false information while presenting it confidently,” the blog posting continued. “When it comes to coding, Bard may give you working code that doesn’t produce the expected output, or provide you with code that is not optimal or incomplete. Always double-check Bard’s responses and carefully test and review code for errors, bugs and vulnerabilities before relying on it.”
For software developers, engineers, and others who code for a living, a tool like Bard or Bing can provide the opportunity to code faster; in theory, you could tweak the chatbot’s output to achieve your low-level coding goals. However, we’re still a long way from a chatbot being able to code a complex program or app completely on its own—and coding on that high level demands skills a machine can’t yet replicate, including creativity, intuition, and a good sense of what might work for an end user.
According to a recent report by Goldman Sachs, generative A.I. could end up automating 300 million jobs; some 29 percent of computer and mathematical jobs are potentially vulnerable to A.I. takeover. If you’re interested in “future proofing” your job, it could pay to master management, problem-solving, strategizing, and creative skills—all things a chatbot can’t do.
During a recent episode of ‘Tech Connects,’ Nick Durkin, field CTO of harness.io (where he’s responsible for the organization's worldwide field engineering team, post-sales engineering team, and a portion of product), described how automation could actually free up tech professionals to pursue more interesting tasks. Don’t fear what A.I. has in store for us; do your best to adapt.
