IBM's Project CodeNet will test how far you can push AI to write software

IBM's AI research division has released a 14-million-sample dataset to develop machine learning models that can help in programming tasks. Called Project CodeNet, the dataset takes its name after ImageNet, the famous repository of labeled photos that triggered a revolution in computer vision and deep learning. While there's a scant chance that machine learning models built on the CodeNet dataset will make human programmers redundant, there's reason to be hopeful that they will make developers more productive. In the early 2010s, impressive advances in machine learning triggered excitement (and fear) about artificial intelligence soon automating many tasks, including programming. But AI's penetration in software development has been extremely limited.