Will Tools like ChatGPT replace software engineers?
The latest buzz in the technology world is about ChatGPT! Every tech news has a mention of ChatGPT almost everyday. ChatGPT seems to have cleared Medical exams, MBA exams as well write code and year end reviews as well can answer simple questions.
ChatGPT was created by OpenAI, it is a natural learning processing tool driven by AI technology that allows you to have human-like conversations and much more with a chatbot. The language model can answer questions, and assist you with tasks such as composing emails, essays, and code. Large language model called GPT-3 was used to make ChatGPT. According to OpenAI, data scientists gathered the huge amount of unlabeled data required to train the LLM by scraping the internet. They supplemented this with text sources that were either in the public domain or made available for use by researchers and possibly governments. Human AI trainers provided the model with conversations in which they played both parts, the user and AI assistants. ChatGPT was also trained using human feedback (a technique called Reinforcement Learning with Human Feedback) so that the AI learned what humans expected when they asked a question. Training the LLM this way is revolutionary because it goes beyond simply training the LLM to predict the next word.
Tools like ChatGPT will not replace software engineers. ChatGPT is a platform that uses natural language processing and artificial intelligence to generate code snippets based on questions posed by developers. This tool can be used to help simplify and speed up certain coding tasks, this could speed up the development process significantly, as well as making it easier for non-programmers to create software, but it is not a replacement for experienced software engineers. It might not be able to understand complex concepts or do creative work as well as humans.
Coding is a tool that you use to build a solution to an existing problem. Similar to a hammer used by a carpenter. Solving these problems is like being an architect involved in understanding the needs of the client/business. An engineer needs to deeply understand the business requirements and the technical limitations as well. This will determine what kind of code to write, or if there is a need to write any code at all!
On another note, we see how hard it is to work in a new code base on a large project. Imagine the challenge of trying to create an AI that is better than us at that. It would be quite time-consuming and expensive.
Getting the correct response from AI also requires you to know what questions to ask. The AI doesn’t explicitly consider your environment, infrastructure, and your specific end result. It will still require someone who knows what they are doing to make some corrections.
Software engineers are vital to the success of any software project. They have extensive knowledge of programming languages and frameworks, which allows them to create applications that are robust and secure. In addition, software engineers are also responsible for testing and debugging the code, which is a task that ChatGPT cannot perform.
Software engineers also bring invaluable expertise in other areas, such as architecture, system design, and security. This expertise is necessary for creating applications that are able to meet user needs and are reliable and secure.
Finally, software engineers bring an element of human judgement to the coding process that ChatGPT simply cannot replicate. While ChatGPT can generate code snippets quickly and accurately, a human software engineer is able to evaluate the context of the project and make decisions about how best to proceed with the project. This kind of decision-making and judgement is invaluable in software development and is something that ChatGPT cannot replicate.
In conclusion, tools like ChatGPT are useful for streamlining and speeding up certain coding tasks, but they cannot replace experienced software engineers. Software engineers bring knowledge, expertise, and judgement that is vital to the success of any software project. AI can never over take human paranoia and human curiosity . AI can only do what human beings have been doing, only humans can do what no human has ever done before. AI is more likely to augment human capabilities and help do jobs more effectively and efficiently. AI is only as smart as the one who trains it.