Lisa Morgan, Freelance WriterNovember 12, 20246 Min ReadDragos Condrea via Alamy StockSoftware development is an ever-changing landscape. Over the years, it has become easier to generate high-quality code faster, though the definition of faster is a moving target.Take low-code tools, for example. With them, developers can build most of the functionality they need with the platform, so they only need to write the custom code the application requires. Low-code tools have also democratized software development -- particularly with the addition of AI.GenAI is accelerating development even further, and its changing the way developers think about code.Siddharth Parakh, senior engineering manager at Medable, expects Ai to revolutionize productivity.The ability for AI to automate repetitive tasks, refactor code and even generate solutions from scratch would allow developers to focus on higher-order problem-solving and strategic design decisions, says Parakh in an email interview. With AI handling routine coding, developers could become orchestrators of complex systems rather than line-by-line authors of software.But theres a catch: Currently, AI-generated code cannot fully replace human intuition in areas such as creative problem solving, contextual understanding, and domain-specific decision-making. Also, AI models are only as good as the data they are trained on, which can lead to bias issues, error propagation or unsafe coding practices, he says. Quality control, debugging, and nuanced decision-making are still areas where human expertise is necessary.Related:How AI HelpsThe operative work is automation.If AI takes over the majority of coding tasks, it would drive unprecedented efficiency and speed in software development, says Medables Parakh. Teams could iterate faster, adapt to changes more fluidly and scale projects without the traditional bottlenecks of manual coding. This could democratize software development, enabling non-experts to create functional software with minimal input.Geoffrey Bourne, co-founder of social media API company Ayrshare, says GenAI coding assistants are now an integral part of his coding.They produce lines of code which save me hours on a weekly basis. But, although the results are improving, theyre correct less than 40% of the time. You need the experience to know the code just isnt up to scratch and needs adjusting or a redo, says Bourne in an email interview. Newbie coders are starting out with these assistants at their fingertips but without the years of experience writing code their seniors have. Weve got to take this into account and not necessarily limit their access but find creative ways to inject that knowledge. You need to find a balance [between] the instant code fix with healthy experience and a critical eye.Related:The evolution of programming, especially through abstraction layers and GenAI, has significantly transformed the way Surabhi Bhargava, a machine learning tech leadat Adobe, approaches her work.GenAI has made certain aspects of development much faster. Writing boilerplate code, prototyping and even debugging is now more streamlined. Finding information across different documents is easier with AI and copilots, says Bhargava in an email interview. [Though] AI can speed things up, I now [must] critically assess AI-generated outputs. It has made me more analytical in reviewing the work produced by these systems, ensuring it aligns with my expectations and needs, particularly when handling complex algorithms or compliance-driven work.AI tools are also helping her create rapid prototypes and theyre reducing the cognitive load.I can focus more on strategic thinking, which improves productivity and gives me room to innovate, says Bhargava. Sometimes, its tempting to lean too heavily on AI for code generation or decision-making. AI-generated solutions arent always optimized or tailored for the specific needs of a project, resulting in bugs and issues in prod. [And] sometimes, it takes more time to set it up if the tools are complex to use.Related:Hands-Free Coding Still Hasnt ArrivedAt present, AI struggles with its own set of issues such as misinterpretation, hallucination and incorrect facts. Over-reliance on AI-generated code could lead to a lack of deep technical expertise in development teams.With humans less involved in the nitty-gritty of coding, we could see a decline in the essential skills needed to debug, optimize, or creatively problem-solve at a low level. Additionally, ethical and security concerns could arise as AI systems might unknowingly introduce vulnerabilities or generate biased solutions, says Parakh. Tom Taulli, author of AI-Assisted Programming: Better Planning, Coding, Testing, and Deployment has been using AI-assisted programming tools for the past couple years. This technology has had the most transformative impact by far on his work in his over 40-year work history.Whats interesting is that I approach a project in terms of natural language prompts, not coding or doing endless searchers on Google and StackOverflow. In fact, I set up a product requirements document that is a list of prompts. Then, I go through each one for the development of an application, says Taulli. These systems are far from perfect. But it only takes a few seconds to generate the code -- and this means I have more time to review it and make iterations.Taulli has been a backend developer primarily, but AI assisted programming has allowed him to do more front-end development.The funny thing is that one of the biggest drawbacks is the pace of innovation with these tools. It can be tough to keep up with the many developments, says Taulli. True, there are other well-known disadvantages, such as with security and intellectual property. Is the code being copied? Do you really own the code you create? says Taulli. However, I think one of the biggest drawbacks is the context window. Basically, the LLMs cannot understand the large codebases. This can make it difficult for sophisticated code refactoring..Another issue is the cut-off date of the LLMs. They may not have the latest packages and frameworks, but the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, he says.Tom Jauncey, head nerd at digital marketing agency Nautilus Marketing, says GenAI tools like GitHub Copilot have accelerated the coding process by letting him think about high-level architecture and design. His advice is to use AI to save time on boilerplate code and documentation.Some of the things that I had to learn were how to prompt AI tools and think critically about their output. It is important to remember that while AI is great at generative code, it doesn't always understand broader context and business requirements, says Jauncey. Thus, always cross-check the AI-generated code with official documentation. AI-powered tools ease the effort of exploring a new language or framework without having to go into syntax details.Edward Tian, CEO of GPTZero, believes its better to use GenAI to assist coding rather than relying on it entirely.Personalization is such a key aspect of coding, and GenAI sometimes just cant quite personalize things in the way you want. It can certainly create complicated code, but it just often falls short in terms of uniqueness, says Tian.Bottom LineGenAI is accelerating development by generating code quickly but beware of its limitations. While its good for writing boilerplate code and documentation, creating quick prototypes and debugging, its important to verify the outputs. Prompt engineering skills also help boost productivity.About the AuthorLisa MorganFreelance WriterLisa Morgan is a freelance writer who covers business and IT strategy and emergingtechnology for InformationWeek. She has contributed articles, reports, and other types of content to many technology, business, and mainstream publications and sites including tech pubs, The Washington Post and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Frequent areas of coverage include AI, analytics, cloud, cybersecurity, mobility, software development, and emerging cultural issues affecting the C-suite.See more from Lisa MorganNever Miss a Beat: Get a snapshot of the issues affecting the IT industry straight to your inbox.SIGN-UPYou May Also LikeWebinarsMore WebinarsReportsMore Reports

Christmas came early for Marvelfans who dont like getting off their couch for their entertainment:Deadpool & Wolverine is now streaming at home. The biggest superhero film of the year and the only Marvel Cinematic Universe movie of 2024 is now available on Disney+.The movieaddstwo of the biggest stars from Foxs X-Men movies Ryan Reynolds Deadpool and Hugh Jackmans Wolverine to the broader MCU. In an extremely meta twist, the film sees the Fox X-Men universe targeted for deletion by the Time Variance Authority fromLoki. Its up to Reynolds Deadpool to save it by finding a Wolverine from elsewhere in the multiverse who can help him restore his timeline.On streaming, you canfreeze frame all of the movies many Marvel Easter eggs and maybe find even more referenceseveryone missed the first time around.DEADPOOL & WOLVERINEMarvelloading...READ MORE: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked From Worst to BestIve seen Deadpool & Wolverine two times already, and the second time I saw it in a theater it really cemented something for me: Hugh Jackman has to be the best superhero actor ever. As I wrote on ScreenCrush a few months ago...Jackmanswork inDeadpool & Wolverinemakes itthe perfect coda for and tribute to the FoxX-Menuniverse. So many of those films were silly, yet Jackman remained devoutly committed to the reality of Wolverines arduous psychological journey. (He also remained devoutly committed to eating nothing but brown rice and chicken for years on end to maintain the reality of Wolverines swole physique.)Deadpool & Wolverineis maybe the silliest of all theX-Menmovies intentionally so and yet Jackman gives maybe his single best performance as Wolverine in it.Deadpool & Wolverine is available on Disney+ now watch it at this link.Sign up for Disney+ here.Get our free mobile appDeadpool & Wolverine: All the Parts That Make No SenseDeadpool & Wolverine is a fun movie with a story that is really hard to wrap your mind around. Here are a bunch of reasons why.

Kevin Feige has hinted Deadpool and Wolverine may return to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.The superhero pair who are portrayed by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman respectively finally got their own movie set in the MCU with the eponymous Deadpool& Wolverine, and now the studios boss, 51, has said Marvel is always wondering where we can fit them in in terms of future projects.Speaking to Omelete, Feige said: The plans with Deadpool and Wolverine will always be the same: Were always wondering where we can fit them in, and how fast.Elsewhere in the interview, the studio boss said the studio was still committed to the reboot of Blade which will star Mahershala Ali as the titular vampire hunter after the film was removed from Disneys release schedule.MarvelMarvelloading...READ MORE: Every Marvel Cinematic Universe Movie, Ranked From Worst to BestFeige said: Were committed to Blade. We love the character, we love Mahershalas version of him. And rest assured, whenever we change direction with a project, or are still trying to figure out how it fits into our schedule, we let the public know.Youre updated on what's going on. But I can say that the character will make it to the MCU.The blockbuster, which has faced many setbacks since its 2019 announcement with directors and writers boarding and departing the project - was due to hit theaters on November 7, 2025, though it has now been replaced by Predator: Badlands and is yet to receive a new release date.Feige previously admitted Marvel was trying to crack the reboot, though insisted the studio didnt rush development on the film.He told BlackTree TV: For the last two years as weve been trying to crack that movie, the most important thing for us is not rushing it and making sure we are making the right Blade movie.Get our free mobile appThe Worst Parts of 15 Great MoviesThese movies are terrific. Theyre not perfect, though. Filed Under: Deadpool, Deadpool and Wolverine, Kevin Feige, Marvel, WolverineCategories: Movie News

Time zones: CST (UTC +8)Contra is looking for a customer support specialist, located in the Philippines, to join our team. You'll be responsible for providing world class support for our growing freelancer and company customer base. This role involves performing support tasks. The expected time commitment is weekends 8 am - 5pm ESTWhat youll be responsible for:Provide support to users and address any issues or questions they may have.Efficiently manage and execute daily operations tasks.Ensure all tasks are completed in a timely manner, maintaining high-quality standards.Tools you'll be using:HubspotNotionLookerRetoolIntercomInterview ProcessLoom VideoInterview with the Recruiting TeamPaid Case Study and Presentation Related Jobs See more Customer Support jobs

Time zones: CST (UTC +8)Contra is looking for a customer support specialist, located in the Philippines, to join our team. You'll be responsible for providing world class support for our growing freelancer and company customer base. This role involves performing support tasks. The expected time commitment is week days Mondays-Fridays.What youll be responsible for:Provide support to users and address any issues or questions they may have.Efficiently manage and execute daily operations tasks.Ensure all tasks are completed in a timely manner, maintaining high-quality standards.Tools you'll be using:HubspotNotionLookerRetoolIntercomInterview ProcessLoom VideoInterview with Recruiting TeamPaid Case Study and Presentation Related Jobs See more Customer Support jobs

Il cre un trafic de pseudos de luxe

The one thing that sets a good developer apart from an average one.

Devs do you do this before building?

This is today's edition ofThe Download,our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what's going on in the world of technology. Generative AI taught a robot dog to scramble around a new environment Teaching robots to navigate new environments is tough. You can train them on physical, real-world data taken from recordings made by humans, but thats scarce, and expensive to collect. Digital simulations are a rapid, scalable way to teach them to do new things, but the robots often fail when theyre pulled out of virtual worlds and asked to do the same tasks in the real one. Now, theres potentially a better option: a new system that uses generative AI models in conjunction with a physics simulator to develop virtual training grounds that more accurately mirror the physical world. Robots trained using this method worked with a higher success rate than those trained using more traditional techniques during real-world tests. Researchers used the system, called LucidSim, to train a robot dog in parkour, getting it to scramble over a box and climb stairs, despite never seeing any real world data. The approach demonstrates how helpful generative AI could be when it comes to teaching robots to do challenging tasks. It also raises the possibility that we could ultimately train them in entirely virtual worlds. Read the full story. Rhiannon Williams Africas AI researchers are ready for takeoff When we talk about the global race for AI dominance, the conversation often focuses on tensions between the US and China, and European efforts at regulating the technology. But its high time we talk about another player: Africa. African AI researchers are forging their own path, developing tools that answer the needs of Africans, in their own languages. Their story is not only one of persistence and innovation, but of preserving cultures and fighting to shape how AI technologies are used on their own continent. However, they face many barriers. Read the full story.Melissa Heikkil This story is from The Algorithm, our weekly AI newsletter. Sign up to receive it in your inbox every Monday. The must-reads Ive combed the internet to find you todays most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 How Silicon Valley is planning to work with Donald Trump Avoiding antitrust regulation and boosting growth are at the top of Big Techs agenda. (WP $)+ Tech executives overwhelmingly supported Kamala Harris. (Vox)+ Trumps policies could make it harder to hire and retain overseas talent. (Insider $)+ Immigrant tech workers are rushing to secure visas before Trumps inauguration. (Forbes $)2 People are abandoning X following the US election result Threads and Bluesky are experiencing an influx of new users. (Bloomberg $)+ Trump loved Twitter during his first Presidency. Will he during his second? (Insider $)3 The Biden administration plans to back a controversial cybercrime treatyCritics fear it could be abused by authoritarian regimes to pursue dissidents. (Politico)+ The treaty would also make electronic evidence more available to the US. (Bloomberg $) 4 DNA testing firm 23andMe is firing 40% of its workforce Things arent looking good for the embattled company. (WSJ $)+ The company is axing all its therapy programs, too. (Reuters)+ How to delete your 23andMe data. (MIT Technology Review) 5 How oil and gas companies are masking their methane emissions The odorless, colorless gas is notoriously tough to track, but satellites are changing that. (FT $)+ Even if we reach net zero, parts of the planet will keep getting warmer. (New Scientist $)+ Why methane emissions are still a mystery. (MIT Technology Review)6 This database tracks license plate cameras across the world The project, called DeFlock, aims to give drivers the choice to avoid certain routes. (404 Media)7 Baidu has unveiled its AI-integrated smart glasses The device can track calorie consumption, among other features. (FT $)+ Smartglasses are a growing trend in China. (SCMP $)+ The coolest thing about smart glasses is not the AR. Its the AI. (MIT Technology Review)8 Everything we know about Uranus is wrongA brief flyby 40 years ago coincided with a rare spike in solar activity. (NYT $) 9 How Ukraine is rewilding amid the war Ecologists believe the conflicts catastrophes can birth environmental gains. (Undark Magazine)+ Ukraine has a plan for getting Trump onside. (Vox)10 To find alien life, look to the mountains Who knows whats trapped under tectonic plates? (The Atlantic $)Quote of the day "I did not say I was uncomfortable talking about it. I said we're not going to talk about it. Michael Barratt, an astronaut and medical doctor, refuses to elaborate on a medical issue an astronaut experienced during a recent mission, Ars Technica reports. The big story Zimbabwes climate migration is a sign of whats to come December 2021 Julius Mutero has spent his entire adult life farming a three-hectare plot in Zimbabwe, but has harvested virtually nothing in the past six years. He is just one of the 86 million people in sub-Saharan Africa who the World Bank estimates will migrate domestically by 2050 because of climate change. In Zimbabwe, farmers who have tried to stay put and adapt have found their efforts woefully inadequate in the face of new weather extremes. Droughts have already forced tens of thousands from their homes. But their desperate moves are creating new competition for water in the region, and tensions may soon boil over. Read the full story. Andrew Mambondiyani We can still have nice things A place for comfort, fun and distraction to brighten up your day. (Got any ideas? Drop me a line or tweet 'em at me.)+ Heres how to make perfect cacio e pepe every time.+ New York is a wonderful placeeven if youre a native New Yorker, theres always something new to try for the first time.+ The 2024 Natures Best Photo Awards are full of delights.+ Good luck to the brave souls skiing in central London.

This story originally appeared in The Algorithm, our weekly newsletter on AI. To get stories like this in your inbox first, sign up here. When we talk about the global race for AI dominance, the conversation often focuses on tensions between the US and China, and European efforts at regulating the technology. But its high time we talked about another player: Africa. AsMIT Technology Reviewhas written before, AI is creating anew colonial world order, where the technology is enriching a small minority of people at the expense of the rest of the world. African AI researchers are determined to change that. Theyre forging their own path, developing tools that answer the needs of Africans, in their own languages. However, they face many barriers. AI research is eye-wateringly expensive, and African startups and researchers get a fraction as much funding as their Western or Asian counterparts. They have to innovate and rely on open-source resources to do more with less. Despite that, the African AI story reflects not only persistence and innovation, but a determination to preserve cultures and shape how AI technologies are used on the continent.Read more herefrom Abdullahi Tsanni, who went to this years Deep Learning Indaba, a machine-learning conference held annually in Senegal, to learn about the opportunities and barriers the African AI scene faces. And then some personal news!This edition will be my last newsletter, and from next week youll be in the extremely capable hands of my colleagueJames ODonnell. Its been a delight writing this newsletter for the past two or so years, and Im so grateful youve joined me on this journey covering everything fromsnowballs of bullshittoTaylor Swifts deepfakes. Im not going anywhere, though. Ill be diving deeper into the AI beat at MIT Technology Review to bring you stories on whats happening in AI and how the technology is changing us and our societies. Stay tuned for more! Finally, while I have you, this week were running our biggest sale of the year, with 50% off an annual subscription to MIT Technology Review. New subscribers receive a free digital report on generative AI and the future of work.Subscribe here. Now read the rest of The Algorithm Deeper Learning Why AI could eat quantum computings lunch Tech companies have been funneling billions of dollars into quantum computers for years. The hope is that theyll be a game changer for fields as diverse as finance, drug discovery, and logistics. Those expectations have been especially high in physics and chemistry, where the weird effects of quantum mechanics come into play. In theory, this is where quantum computers could have a huge advantage over conventional machines. Enter AI:But while the field struggles with the realities of tricky quantum hardware, another challenger is making headway in some of these most promising use cases. AI is now being applied to fundamental physics, chemistry, and materials science in a way that suggests quantum computings purported home turf might not be so safe after all. Given the pace of recent advances, a growing number of researchers are now asking whether AI could solve a substantial chunk of the most interesting problems in chemistry and materials science before large-scale quantum computers become a reality.Read more from Edd Gent here. Bits and Bytes The Saudis are planning a $100 billion AI powerhouseSpeaking of the race for AI dominance, this piece looks at how Saudi Arabia wants in on AI action. And its putting its money where its mouth is. The country is investing a massive sum to develop a tech hub that it hopes will rival the neighboring United Arab Emirates. (Bloomberg) AI is making it harder to believe what is real and what is notTwo recent examples show just how influential AI slop can be in warping our sense of reality. In Dublin,crowds gatheredin the city center to wait for a Halloween parade to take place. There was no parade planned, but the listing was created by AI and then picked up by social media users and local media. By way of contrast, some social media users dismissedshocking images of the devastating recent floods in Spainas AI-generated, although they were entirely real. AI companies are getting comfortable offering their technology to the militaryMilitaries around the world have been pouring money into new technologies, including AI. Meta and Anthropic are the latest tech companies to start courting them, joining the likes of Google and OpenAI. (The Washington Post) OpenAI is shifting its strategy as the improvement in its AI tools slows downThe current paradigm in AI development is to make things bigger to make them better. But OpenAIs new model, code-named Orion, only performs slightly better than its predecessors. Instead, OpenAI is shifting to improving models after their initial training. (The Information)