Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed during an earnings call for the quarter ended September 30 that over 25 per cent of Google’s new code was generated by artificial intelligence (AI).
However, this is not a threat to software engineers.
The AI-generated code is further reviewed by engineers, which makes them more efficient, Pichai stated.
“We’re also using AI internally to improve our coding processes, which is boosting productivity and efficiency. Today, more than a quarter of all new code at Google is generated by AI, then reviewed and accepted by engineers. This helps our engineers do more and move faster,” Pichai said.
Google offers its customers AI accelerator tools such as NVIDIA Graphics Processing Units and customised Tensor Processing Units, which are specialised hardware accelerators for AI applications.
AI accelerator tools boost efficiency
“….we use — and offer our customers — a range of AI accelerator options, including multiple classes of NVIDIA GPUs and our own custom-built TPUs. We’re now on the sixth generation of TPUs — known as Trillium — and continue to drive efficiencies and better performance with them,” Pichai said.
On Tuesday, Alphabet, Google’s parent company, reported 15 per cent revenue growth year-over-year to $88.3 billion due to the strong performance of its advertising business and growth in AI, reported AFP. The company’s net income rose 34 per cent to $26.3 billion. Earnings per share (EPS) increased to 37 per cent at $2.12.
“Our commitment to innovation, as well as our long-term focus and investment in AI, are paying off with consumers and partners benefiting from our AI tools,” the Google CEO said.
The company is heavily investing in AI initiatives and clean energy across the globe.
“We continue to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to support our AI efforts, from the US to Thailand, to Uruguay. We’re also making bold clean energy investments, including the world’s first corporate agreement to purchase nuclear energy from multiple small modular reactors, which will enable up to five hundred megawatts of new 24/7 carbon-free power,” Pichai said.
