Google and AI startup 'Replit' collaborate to challenge Microsoft's GitHub

Alphabet's Google Cloud partnered with 'Replit,' a San Francisco-based start-up with an online integrated development environment (IDE), to add it to its cloud platform. An IDE is a piece of software that helps programmers create software code effectively.

Following the release of Copilot X, an updated version of Github's AI-driven software development platform, was released.

GitHub Copilot is a programming tool that uses OpenAI's Codex language model to generate code suggestions based on programmer-inputted comments and functions, similar to a super autocomplete feature.

How would they benefit from this collaboration?

In accordance with their contract, Google will provide 'Replit' access to its computational power and specialised AI models. In response, Replit's collaborative code editing technology will be made available to Google Cloud and Workspace developers.

Replit's browser-based online IDE, which can automatically complete code and answer to natural language inquiries, has a direct integration with Replit's Ghostwriter code generator. "This will help programmers enhance productivity and make it easier for employees to fix errors and collaborate with colleagues," Replit CEO Amjad Masad said.

According to a statement from the startup established in 2016, it supports over 20 million developers and says that its Ghostwriter robot has contributed to the creation of more than 30% of user code.

June Yang, VP of Cloud AI and Industry Solutions at Google Cloud, said, "Generative AI can bring significant new capabilities to businesses and developers, including the ability to easily, safely, and scalably create new software applications and online experiences with little or no coding experience."

The widely used platform from 'Replit' will be powered by Google Cloud infrastructure and Vertex AI foundation models, Yang continued, giving millions of developers worldwide additional performance and scalability.

According to a study from GitHub Copilot released in July 2022, adopting GitHub Copilot increases developer productivity and helps them stay focused on what matters most: creating top-notch software.

However, because AI-suggested code completions are not always confirmed to be accurate, developers should exercise caution when using them. According to Chris Riley, senior manager of developer relations at marketing technology company HubSpot, "Developers must carefully analyse any ideas, which might negate any time saved by exploring developer sites for code snippets."