There are now new AI tools that help developers write their software, and using them has revealed something new about such AI systems – they generate similar mistakes to those a human would make.

The Program Called Copilot Uses AI to Help Developers Write Code

Now that Microsoft’s subsidiary GitHub has released a beta version of their program Copilot, software developers that are testing its capabilities have shared their first impressions. The program provides tools for hosting and collaborating on code and uses its own AI to assist programmers. Its goal is to guess the intent of the writer when typing a command, database query, or request and write the rest.

According to tester Alex Naka, the program can be very helpful and changes the way he works. It made him feel less like a generator of code and more of a code discriminator. Naka has also found errors that manage to find their way into his code despite his use of AI. The errors are subtle but originate from the proposals that the AI makes.

The Risks of Having an AI Generating Faulty Code Could Be Surprisingly High

Researchers that have examined the code written by Copilot’s AI say that it can contain security flaws where security is crucial at around 40 percent of the time. Apparently, this figure is higher than researchers had anticipated. Despite the flaws, Copilot and other programs that are powered by AI may herald a big change in the way software developers write their code. Using AI to automate mundane work is nothing new and is now just getting started in the world of coding. Programs like Copilot are definitely highlighting the pitfalls of today’s AI techniques and could lead to better results in the future.

During analysis of the code for the Copilot plugin, experts found a list of restricted phrases that were preventing the system from using offensive messages or well-known code that was written by someone else. According to Oege de Moor, one of the developers of Copilot and vice president of research at GitHub, the percentage of flawed code cited by researchers was only relevant for a certain subset of code that makes security flaws more likely.

Fabric is a startup that focuses on e-commerce platform development, and recently, it has raised as much as $100 million in new funding. The round was spearheaded by Stripes, which is a private equity firm based in New York. It included various new investors like B Capital Group and Greycroft.

The Value of Fabric is Now Set at $850 Million

According to experts who specialize in the field, Fabric has raised its value from $193 million to $850 million. The startup allows companies to customize their own websites with back-end technology and digital storefronts that allow them to facilitate online transactions. Chief Executive Officer Faisal Masud has stated that the surge in e-commerce demand pointed out the importance of robust digital technology and the lack of sufficient resources & engineering talent many companies need to improve their websites. According to him, product owners should focus on their products and not running their platforms, and the latter is exactly what Fabric can do for them.

Fabric Is Now Being Used By More Than Two Dozen Customers

According to Masud, Fabric has been useful to many companies already. Its clients include Restoration Hardware, GNC, and BarkBox. The startup will use this latest surge in funding to hire a marketing leadership team and expand its existing engineering team. The company will also broaden partnerships and support possible acquisitions, and it also looks forward to expanding in Asia.

Fabric was founded back in 2017 by Ryan Bartley, who had done work at eBay and Staples. Currently, he is the chief revenue officer at Fabric. While his company works with many consumer-facing websites, its growth is likely to come from companies that are doing business-to-business work. According to Ron Shah, who is a partner at Stripes, Fabric benefits greatly from a leadership team with vast experience working for technology giants like Google and Amazon. Apparently, this is vital for this kind of market because it is hard to stay relevant with the rapid pace of change in the industry.