AI Generated Code: an Aid or a Threat to Software Developers?

During recent years, many low-code/no-code solutions gained popularity as alternatives to hiring software developers for creating simple websites, like e-commerce platforms for businesses. In this article we are talking about the latest trend in code generation, OpenAI's GPT chatbot.

GPT-3, (which stands for Generative Pretrained Transformer 3) is a language model that has the ability to generate human-like text. GPT-3 is trained on a large dataset of text and can generate text that is coherent and similar to human writing. Since the public launch of GPT, tech enthusiasts have explored its capabilities of code generation and found that it can create complex pieces of code. This raises the question: can GPT-3 replace programmers? The short answer is no. While GPT-3 can generate text that resembles code, it is not capable of generating functional, efficient, or reliable code. For proving this point, I decided to test the generator myself on a few practical problems, and analyze the results. I selected some problems from books and contests for beginners in competitive programming. At first I was impressed by its capacity to come up with custom implementations in my languages of choice for variations of classic algorithms. For example, it succeeded in implementing a functional React component for multiplying matrices provided by the user, or a C++ function for applying Dijkstra's algorithm, assuming that the cost of a path is the maximum of the edges instead of their sum. However, when the problem did not only require an adaptation of a classic algorithm, but rather expected an original approach, the AI failed. This is because generating code requires a deep understanding of the problem that is being solved and the context in which the code will be used, which are difficult for AI algorithms to replicate. In addition to this, writing code is more than just stringing together lines of code – it requires problem-solving, critical thinking, and creativity. As a conclusion, I think that, while GPT-3 or similar solutions may be able to assist programmers in certain tasks, they cannot replace them entirely. Programming will continue to be a critical skill for developers, and the human touch will remain an essential element of successful code development. GPT-3's code generating abilities are limited, and it cannot replace human programmers.

Bibliography: Introduction - OpenAI API