Why should developers learn more about Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Introduction
According to Forbes, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning are the leading transformative technologies and these trends will show remarkable progress in the next decade. The growing ability of machines to ‘think’, ‘act’ and interpret intelligently will continue to transform the world we will live in today, with the effects felt in the field of software development too. Many companies have already adopted AI and ML as a differentiating aspect to deliver better service to their customers and users and to ensure they leverage the best to increase adoption.
Examples of AI in software development
Let’s check out some areas where AI in software development is making remarkable progress.
Example 1
Initiating driving safety
A company in Vienna initiated a new level of driving safety recently. They created AI powered software which integrated a 3D environment perception enabling in-cabin monitoring. This particular software is already in use today in several OEMs and Tier 1 suppliers. The reason for developing this particular software was to address the problems caused by road accidents and the fatalities associated with it. Understandably, a good percentage of the accidents are caused by human error (getting distracted, fatigue, carelessness, etc). So this addresses that problem by collecting the real time data of the driver’s emotional and physical state, and analyse safety-critical objects that are in the automotive’s cabin. Once the software detects that the driver of the vehicle is not alert or is getting distracted, then the intelligent safety functions of the car will be alerted.
Example 2
This example is about how asthma patients can benefit from AI. A company recently developed a system where asthma patients can take the right dosage of asthma medication and ensure that it is working. This is an AI powered tool that can be placed on commercial inhalers and measures the vibrations on the person’s breath and automatically tracks the patient’s usage of the medication. The tool also comes with a mobile application that works on Bluetooth, and it would give them insights on how to manage their health in a better way. It would also provide daily inhalation profiles, complete and in-depth statistics to share with the doctors and for your record too.
Developer skills to ensure full leverage of AI capabilities
When you hire developers, ensure that they have the following skills, because AI is here to stay, and the developers should be better equipped to deal with that. Check out some of the must-have skills :
1. Software design
The software design is a unique and dynamic field and it is indigenous to each application. The design entails the system architecture, navigation, database management system, applications because all these would have to be configured in perfect tandem. The developer creates a blueprint containing all these components and the timeline required to roll out the software.
2. Database design
This is a creative job and the database engineer would create data models that include database relationships and analysing constraints. Though AI can analyse the constraints, there are a lot of database differences (in the design and structure) among different applications, so you need the developer to be skilled at the database design process.
3. System architecture
The system architecture is all about the entire structure of the application. The developer should be skilled at the app’s scalability, system efficiency, maintainability and reliability of the app through system architecture.
4. Software debugging
Developers must have software debugging skills to analyse and figure where a problem is coming from. This is a skill that AI is not yet fully capable of, so you need the developer to understand the problem, apply and fix the solution. The AI can help with it, that’s all.
5. Software security
The instances of cyber attacks are increasing no matter how many new systems and practices are in place. The developer must possess the skills to build software that’s highly safe and secure. Businesses cannot afford to have software hacks affecting the privacy of their customers, and the hackers have become resilient to all the efforts that they take to protect their systems. The developer must have the necessary skills to develop foolproof and highly secure applications.
The developer must also be really good with Python applications because this is the language used in AI and ML. One of the reasons why Python is widely used is because of its huge plethora of libraries and each of these libraries lets you handle, access and transform data. Python has a low entry barrier, is highly versatile and quite flexible, making it just perfect for developing AI applications.
Together with AI, developers can scale new heights
Artificial Intelligence can be a huge asset in software development. The technology aids in project planning, facilitates quality assurance and helps companies release super efficient applications. With the help of AI, the developer’s productivity increases several times over. Let’s check out how:
The speed and scale of development
Each aspect of software development changes once AI takes command, because with the help of Machine Learning, you can shorten delivery times, increase productivity, run tests automatically, streamline processes, cut down repetitive manual processes, reduce waste and make quality analysis perfect and error-free. AI helps with coding too so together with AI, developers can release apps much faster than ever.
Developers work in collaboration with AI
AI has started writing codes already, but that’s in the starting stages only. AI can help developers write better, accurate codes, but it cannot not replace software developers. However smart the technology becomes, it still doesn’t have the human brain to direct it. With AI, developers can allocate mundane tasks to the system, and work on other aspects of their job.
Radicalise decision-making
AI helps in better decision making because you can teach it to learn from precious success and failures and suggest different products and features to invest in. It would help you understand which software to invest in, the success rates of the new software and help you make better decisions. With AI, you can actually reduce the risk of making mistakes, making each aspect of software development perfect.
Reduce the need for roll back
With AI, you don’t have to worry about common errors in the development phase. The programming assistant will be able to flag those down for you, so you don’t have to roll back. Most of the problems in software development are caused by the downtime that happens as a result of errors, especially when your software is run as a cloud based platform or as SaaS (software as a service). This can be efficiently corrected when you have AI detecting the errors, diagnosing and correcting them, without the developer being present. This certainly improves the efficiency of the program.
Conclusion
Artificial Intelligence helps developers do a perfect job of creating the perfect software application by eliminating errors, reducing downtime and launching a beautiful program that users need. The technology can also give you precise estimates on when the project can be completed, the time, effort and budget required. AI can enhance the job of the developer, and together the relationship is going to scale great heights.
Interesting Links:
What is Artificial intelligence?
An introduction to Artificial Intelligence Software
Hi, my name is Rahil. I work at YUHIRO Global and I help web agencies and software companies from Europe to build developer teams in India.