CEO Sundar Pichai says 25% of new code Google creates is written by AI

[midian182]

A hot potato: Like virtually every tech company today, Google is investing heavily in all things artificial intelligence. Not only is the firm pushing its own generative AI products, but it's also using the technology to increase productivity. According to CEO Sundar Pichai, AI is being used to write around 25% of new code at Google.

During the company's third-quarter 2024 earnings call, Pichai said Google is "using AI internally to improve our coding processes, which is boosting productivity and efficiency," adding that more than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI.

That sort of statement brings questions about AI replacing human jobs, the errors it introduces, and potential copyright issues, but Pichai says all the generated code is reviewed and accepted by engineers. The Google boss added that this helps the engineers do more and move faster.

AI-generated and AI-assisted code doesn't have the best reputation. In 2022, a study found that when programmers had access to code-generating AI, their output was more likely incorrect or insecure compared to the "hand-made" solutions. In April 2023, another study that involving asking ChatGPT 517 software programming questions found that it got more than half of them wrong.

Generative AI is improving all the time, but even if it is making fewer mistakes these days, a study from earlier this month concluded that using AI coding assistants does not boost productivity or prevent burnout.

While Pichai mentioned that engineers still review and check AI-generated code, it's easy to imagine that its use will eventually come at the cost of at least some jobs. It's especially worrying in light of Anat Ashkenazi, Alphabet's new CFO, stating that one of her top priorities at the company would be to drive more "cost efficiencies."

Google parent Alphabet laid off 12,000 people, or 6% of its global workforce last year and has been cutting more employees in 2024. Ashkenazi, who had spent 23 years at Eli Lilly, praised the cost-saving measures implemented by the company, but said "any organization can always push a little further," and she will be "looking at additional opportunities."

It was reported earlier this week that Google was working on an AI agent called Jarvis that can take over a user's PC. It's supposed to automate everyday, web-based tasks by taking screenshots, interpreting the information, then clicking buttons or entering text.

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CEO Sundar Pichai says 25% of new code Google creates is written by AI

 

[DanteSmith]

I hope game studios don't decide to come up with fun ideas to cut costs by using AI instead of employing skilled programmers.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

Well no wonder google's products have all been broken junk lately.

I hope game studios don't decide to come up with fun ideas to cut costs by using AI instead of employing skilled programmers.

It could hardly be worse then the garbage that gets pumped out.

 

[TheBigFatClown]

I call BULLXXXX on that. What are people calling AI these days? If you allow me to stretch my imagination and call all the previous generations of advancements in technology AI then okay. Is 'C' language the AI for assembly language? Is C++ the AI for 'C' language? Are the previous 20 years of advancing the .NET Framework the AI for C++ and unmanaged memory?

Is Microsoft's intellisense the A.I. for refreshing my memory on the fly. I mean it "does" pop up automagically so..... Okay, then I believe you.

Otherwise, I'll say it again, "BULLXXXX!"

But after we're done fantasizing and we come back down to Earth...NO...Programming APIs are not AI. Stop redefining ISHT!

"Hey Pichai, you DUMXXXX, that's not A.I. that's writing 25% of your code, They're called APIs, code-snippets or templates. And they've been here for a long while now".

 

[brucek]

I wonder how he's measuring. This 25% stat may be literally true for my coding, as long as you're counting by character, and understanding that a lot of those "AI-developed characters" are not that different from the IDE suggestion menus or auto-complete features we've had for decades. The AI will try to do a little more, at the cost of being significantly less reliable.

If you're counting by time spent, it's not close to saving me 25% of the time. I do believe its 25% more entertaining to watch what it will do, and the random variable positive reinforcement of every once in a while seeing a clever expression or approach that is new to me. On that front though it's significantly less efficient at sharing information and teaching new things than pair programming or informally working with others, I just like it because a lot of my work on certain topics is done alone these days.

 

[imdarkbreeze]

Which just made them suck 25% more than they already did.

 

[FaTaL]

I call BULLXXXX on that. What are people calling AI these days? If you allow me to stretch my imagination and call all the previous generations of advancements in technology AI then okay. Is 'C' language the AI for assembly language? Is C++ the AI for 'C' language? Are the previous 20 years of advancing the .NET Framework the AI for C++ and unmanaged memory?

Is Microsoft's intellisense the A.I. for refreshing my memory on the fly. I mean it "does" pop up automagically so..... Okay, then I believe you.

Otherwise, I'll say it again, "BULLXXXX!"

But after we're done fantasizing and we come back down to Earth...NO...Programming APIs are not AI. Stop redefining ISHT!

"Hey Pichai, you DUMXXXX, that's not A.I. that's writing 25% of your code, They're called APIs, code-snippets or templates. And they've been here for a long while now".

He knows that. Shareholders and majority dont. Look at that, GOOG (Alphabet) stock went up about 10 points this morning....since this call on 10/29.

 

[Watzupken]

Like in the recent article that shared what Linus said, AI is 90% marketing and 10% factual applies here. I believe these supposed 25% coding done by AI does not mean anything meaningful. Whatever comes from AI now, requires human to thoroughly review and validate. If you look at Google’s own AI, Gemini, that is producing all sorts of weird results like putting glue on your food, you can imagine the comedy when using it to write codes unattended. If AI fumbles the coding (which is to be expected), you just waste more time deciphering what was written and where it went wrong. So yeah, you can use it to write codes by forcing employees to use it so that you have some numbers to prove, but it does not mean it’s helping the firm meaningfully.

 

[BuckarooBonzaii]

Anything you can get people fixed on is an addiction and AI is no different. AI is part of our evolution and everything created today are for those after Gen Z.

 

[toooooot]

Woohoo, 25% savings

 

[goldman]

Yeah, I don't believe him

 

[Angga B]

And when these "codes" go rogue, wreaking havoc, we know who to blame.

 

[VemigoAmigo]

And when these "codes" go rogue, wreaking havoc, we know who to blame.

Skynet?

 

[Angga B]

Skynet?

LoL. At first I thought the old AI debate between Musk and Zuckerberg/Google gave me hope that human will eventually recognize the advantage vs risk/threat of AI. Then I learned that Musk heavily investing in AI autonomy and Neuralink.
No, peeps, these greedy bas**** will get us all killed.

 

[techstrike]

It is so funny how much money big tech companies spend to create an AI not smarter than a cat just to avoid to pay man power for their future development.

For almost two decades these companies used people from India to do their work (modern slavery)
Now they want to move to machines which need more power than a powerhouse.

Maybe the management is already controlled from AI.

 

[VemigoAmigo]

LoL. At first I thought the old AI debate between Musk and Zuckerberg/Google gave me hope that human will eventually recognize the advantage vs risk/threat of AI. Then I learned that Musk heavily investing in AI autonomy and Neuralink.
No, peeps, these greedy bas**** will get us all killed.

I think it will take a few more decades Robots and AI is not advanced enough at all.

 

[DrSuess]

What is the quality and maintainability of the generated code? I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't a savings at all since the human in the loop needs to understand and integrate what is generated.

 

[Ecurb]

I love and use AI daily to code and to administer systems, but this suggested to me something likely as true such as “85% of all new code is generated after searching the internet “. Articles like this produce much meaningless noise that somehow gets people excited.

 

[wiyosaya]

It will be funny when this backfires on Pichai and google.
My bet is the only reason he is saying this is to cash in on the FAD.

 

[Angga B]

Maybe the management is already controlled from AI.

The things that differ men from machine is talent, flair, idea. Which are the things management mostly do not need to have to rule and administer. They will be the ones becoming easily replaceable by AI and they will never foresee that, for they are mostly that stupid.