Let the AI Coding Wars Begin!

The big news this week was a call from tech luminaries to pause development and deployment of AI models more advanced than OpenAI's GTP-4--the stunningly capable language algorithm behind ChatGPT--until risks including job displacement and misinformation can be better understood. Even if OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and other tech heavyweights were to stop what they're doing--and they're not going to stop what they're doing--the AI models that have already been developed are likely to have profound impacts, especially in software development. It might not look like a regular business deal, but Alphabet's agreement to supply AI to Replit, a web-based coding tool with over 20 million users, is something of a seismic shift. Replit will use Google's AI models, along with others, in Ghostwriter, a tool that recommends code and answers code-related questions in a manner similar to ChatGPT. Amjad Masad, Replit's CEO, tells me that Google has "super cool technology" and that his company can get it into the hands of developers.