DOS Won’t Hunt: Is AI Better Than Low Code/No Code for Developers?

This week in New York, Olivier Gaudin, CEO and co-founder of Sonar, hosted a chat with reporters on topics that included some discussion of generative AI’s potential to change software development.

The concept of putting AI to work in software and app development is gaining more attention, as well as drawing some concerns. It seems clear that organizations intend to explore its use in the development cycle, but how it gets implemented might depend on the guardrails that need to be put in place.

When asked about the doubts and questions that surround AI-generated code, Gaudin said, “There are a lot of unknowns.”

Generative AI makes coding and other disciplines more reachable for many people, he said, yet software development is still a complex area. “We’re still going to need developers,” Gaudin said.

There is the potential for generative AI, used in development, to drive an influx of development as he foresees much more code being created as most anyone gains to the capability to create applications. This may also reshape how and where professional developers spend their time, potentially providing oversight to AI-generated code.

“More code means more code to review,” Gaudin said. “And also, because it’s generated code, I think it’s going to become almost irresponsible to not have a proper code review of what has been generated.”

Faced with an overall shortage of developers in the market to meet demand, he said AI can help by allowing people to get more done. This sounds pretty comparable to expectations associated with low-code and no-code development, the use of platforms that let “citizen developers” create apps without deep technical expertise. From Gaudin’s perspective, AI-generated code might replace the low-code / no-code trend.

“AI actually gets rid of low-code and no-code," he said. "It’s a better version of this.” As it stands, low code and no code do not replace developers, Gaudin said, rather they augment the space. Generative AI could possibly supplant those coding alternative. “AI is better version of low code / no code -- much better for sure.”

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