AI has made significant strides in recent years, automating numerous aspects of our lives, from self-driving cars to voice assistants. Among these advancements, OpenAI’s ChatGPT has astounded the global community with its uncanny ability to generate human-like text and code based on natural language prompts. This leads many to wonder if ChatGPT or similar AI tools could soon replace human programmers.

While the prowess of AI like ChatGPT is undeniable, understanding the nuances of its functioning, its potential, and its limitations will give us a clearer perspective on its role in programming. This article explores its capabilities and limitations as a programming assistant, following its evolution from its initial release to the more sophisticated version powered by GPT-4. We’ll compare traditional programming practices with coding through ChatGPT, and address the critical question: Is it a useful tool to enhance productivity, a potential tutor for beginners, or could it render human programmers obsolete? 

This is part of a series of articles about ChatGPT alternatives.

What is ChatGPT? 

ChatGPT is an online AI-based chatbot. It was initially based on generative pretrained transformer 3.5 (GPT-3.5), an AI language model developed by OpenAI. It’s trained on a wide variety of text from the internet. But unlike most AI models, which are trained to perform a specific task, GPT-3.5 is a generalist. It has the power to answer questions, write essays, summarize texts, translate languages, and even generate code in any programming language.

The secret sauce of ChatGPT lies in its architecture. The core architecture of ChatGPT is a deep learning model known as a transformer. This model leverages the power of attention mechanisms, which allows it to focus on different parts of the input when generating each word in its output. This architecture provides the model with a robust ability to understand the context and relevance of words in a sentence. 

GPT-3.5 has an astounding 175 billion parameters, which are a bit like synthetic brain cells, each making a tiny contribution to the output. With this massive number of parameters, ChatGPT can generate impressively coherent and contextually rich responses, navigating nuanced conversations and delivering detailed information on a myriad of topics.

OpenAI released GPT-4 in April 2023, and ChatGPT can now be used both with the older GPT-3.5 and the newer GPT-4 model. While there are not many details available about the architecture and number of parameters in GPT-4, it’s a far more capable model. According to OpenAI, it was designed to be “more reliable, creative, and able to handle much more nuanced instructions.” A primary innovation of GPT-4 is that it enables larger prompts, between 8,192 and 32,768 tokens in length. (A token is roughly equivalent to four English language characters.)

Code generation capabilities of ChatGPT 

Since its launch, a primary use case of ChatGPT has been to generate code. Let’s explore the main steps in the evolution of the service as it pertains to code generation.

Code generation in ChatGPT-3.5

ChatGPT showcased its initial capabilities in code generation in version 3.5. Using its underlying language understanding and text generation abilities, it could generate simple code snippets based on textual prompts. For example, if you asked it to write a Python function to calculate the factorial of a number, it could do that.

However, these capabilities were somewhat limited. The generated code was often straightforward and simplistic, and while it could handle basic coding tasks, it struggled with more complex problems. It also often required exact, clear, and explicit instructions to generate the correct code.

Code generation in ChatGPT-4

ChatGPT’s potential for code generation took a leap forward with the release of version 4. This update introduced more advanced code generation capabilities, allowing the model to handle more complex coding tasks with better precision. It could generate longer and more complex code snippets, and its comprehension of programming concepts improved.

Despite these improvements, ChatGPT-4 is still not perfect. It sometimes generates incorrect or inefficient code and can struggle with ambiguous or poorly defined prompts.

Code interpreter plugin

To further enhance the code generation capabilities of ChatGPT, OpenAI introduced a code interpreter plugin. This plugin allows ChatGPT to interpret and analyze existing code, which users can upload as files of any format. This can help it generate more accurate and efficient code and perform other advanced tasks.

The code interpreter plugin works by analyzing the input code and providing context to ChatGPT, allowing it to better understand the task at hand. This can result in more accurate and efficient code generation, but it’s still not perfect. The plugin might struggle with more complex tasks or situations where the context is ambiguous or unclear.

Limitations of using ChatGPT for coding 

Lack of IDE integration

One of the initial drawbacks of using ChatGPT for coding is that it’s not natively integrated with most integrated development environments (IDEs). While it can generate code, programmers will have to copy the code and paste it into their IDEs manually. This lack of direct integration can lead to inefficiencies in the coding process, particularly in complex projects.

Code privacy

Another significant limitation is the issue of code privacy. Given that ChatGPT generates its outputs based on the inputs it receives, there’s a risk that sensitive code could potentially be exposed to third parties. To illustrate the risk, OpenAI has already experienced a data breach where more than 100,000 ChatGPT accounts and their data were stolen by attackers.

Code quality and security

While ChatGPT can generate code, the quality and security of that code are not guaranteed. The AI bot is not currently equipped with the ability to test the code it generates for potential bugs, vulnerabilities, or inefficiencies. This limitation puts an additional burden on programmers to thoroughly check and verify the code generated by the AI, negating some of the time-saving benefits of the tool and introducing risks in case programmers do not diligently check output.

In addition, ChatGPT cannot operate in an isolated environment. For example, there’s no way to run it in your on-premises data center or inside a virtual private cloud (VPC). This significantly increases the security risk while working on sensitive, proprietary codebases with ChatGPT.

Suitability for junior programmers

Finally, while ChatGPT might seem like a great tool for junior programmers, it might not be the best tutor. Given its limitations and inability to provide context, using ChatGPT could potentially lead to adopting bad coding practices. Junior programmers must learn the fundamentals of coding from experienced human mentors who can provide context and guidance before relying on code from tools like ChatGPT.

Coding with ChatGPT vs. traditional coding: What are the differences?

Error checking

In traditional programming, the responsibility of checking for errors falls squarely on the programmer. We have to meticulously go through our code, line by line, to ensure there are no syntax errors, logical errors, or runtime errors.

In ChatGPT, error checking is still necessary because the tool is not able to test its code, nor does it understand the full context in which the code will be used. However, it can be more challenging to test the code, because the code was generated by AI and might use logic or structure that is unclear to the human tester. Programmers could also fail to check the output, treating ChatGPT output as reliable, tested code, which can lead to serious consequences.

Interactivity

When it comes to interactivity, ChatGPT has a clear edge. Traditional coding is a solitary process, often involving long hours spent alone in front of a computer. ChatGPT, on the other hand, allows for a more interactive experience. You can communicate with it, ask it questions, and get instant responses. This can make the coding process more engaging and less isolating.

However, there’s a flip side to this interactivity. While ChatGPT can respond to queries, it cannot truly understand or think like a human. It can’t provide the kind of creative problem-solving or unique insights that a human programmer can. So, even though it’s more interactive, it can’t replace the human element in programming.

Completeness

Completeness, in the context of programming, refers to the ability to create a fully functioning piece of software from start to finish. Traditional programming requires a deep understanding of coding languages, algorithms, data structures, and more. It requires careful planning, rigorous testing, and a lot of time and effort.

ChatGPT’s ability to generate code could potentially simplify this process. It could automate certain tasks, generate boilerplate code, or even write entire parts of an application. However, it’s important to remember that ChatGPT lacks the human ability to understand the bigger picture, to plan for contingencies, or to foresee potential issues. So, while it can contribute to the completeness of a project, it cannot achieve it on its own.

Programming knowledge

Programming knowledge is a must-have in traditional coding. A programmer needs to understand the syntax and rules of the language they’re using, as well as problem-solving and logical thinking skills.

With ChatGPT, users don’t necessarily have to be skilled programmers. The AI model can generate code based on natural language input, making coding more accessible to nonprogrammers. However, this can be misleading, because without a strong grasp of the programming language, users cannot test and verify the quality and suitability of the code. So in reality, using ChatGPT without sound programming knowledge is not recommended.

Will ChatGPT replace programmers? 

How AI tools like ChatGPT can assist programmers

AI tools like ChatGPT can certainly aid programmers in their work. They can automate repetitive tasks, generate boilerplate code, and even assist in debugging by suggesting potential solutions. This can save programmers a significant amount of time, allowing them to focus on more complex tasks that require human creativity and intuition.

Furthermore, AI tools like ChatGPT can be used as a learning aid. They can help beginners understand the syntax and structure of code, provide examples, and answer common coding questions. This can make the learning process more efficient and enjoyable, and illustrates how AI can be used to enhance human capabilities, rather than replace them.

But while AI tools like ChatGPT can assist programmers, they have their limitations. Let’s delve into why AI can’t fully replace a programmer’s role.

Limitations of AI in replacing a programmer’s role

While AI has made significant strides in understanding and generating human-like text, it still has a long way to go before it can fully replace a human programmer. There are several reasons for this:

• AI lacks creativity. While AI can generate code based on patterns it’s learned, it can’t create new algorithms or come up with innovative solutions to complex problems. This requires human creativity and intuition, something AI doesn’t possess.
• AI lacks context. AI doesn’t understand code in the same way a human programmer does. It doesn’t know what the code does, or why it works or doesn’t work. It simply generates code based on patterns it’s learned. This makes it a useful tool for generating boilerplate code, but not for complex software development tasks.
• AI lacks empathy. AI doesn’t understand human emotions or the importance of user experience in software development. A human programmer, on the other hand, can empathize with the user and design software that meets their needs and expectations.

While ChatGPT, or any AI tool, is unlikely to replace programmers anytime soon, AI code assistants are becoming an essential part of the development process. Organizations realize this potential and are keen to provide AI coding assistants to boost productivity. However, most organizations will find consumer-oriented products like ChatGPT are not a good fit. This is where enterprise-grade AI solutions like Tabnine come into the picture.

Tabnine Chat

Tabnine Chat is an AI assistant trained on your entire codebase, safe open source code, and every StackOverflow Q&A, and ensures all of your intellectual property remains protected and private.

Tabnine Chat is always available for you right in the IDE:

• Answers any of your questions regarding your code
• Generates new code from scratch
• Explains a piece of code
• Searches your code repos for specific functions or pieces of code
• Refactors code
• Generates documentation (docstrings)
• Finds and fixes code issues
• Generates unit tests, and more 

Tabnine — The AI assistant you can trust and that you control

Today, 70% of developers use AI. When implementing AI in an organization, it’s crucial to consider various aspects. Tabnine stands out with the highest standards of privacy and security. Unlike other AI coding tools, Tabnine places special emphasis on code privacy, intellectual property protection, and open source compliance. With a dedicated mission to bring AI to every facet of software development, Tabnine ensures seamless integration while prioritizing the privacy and security of user code:

Code privacy

Tabnine’s AI models can be isolated, with no external connectivity and no data retention, ensuring that user code remains completely private and secure. 

IP protection

Tabnine never stores user code and exclusively trains its generative AI on open source code with permissive licenses, mitigating the risk of intellectual property litigation. 

Open source compliance

Tabnine ensures complete security by training its AI models on code with permissive licenses, providing full transparency regarding the code used for training. In contrast, Copilot’s training on nonpermissive open source licenses, including GPL licenses with copyleft clauses, could expose companies to legal risks. Although a filter is available to remove problematic code from suggestions, it may not always be foolproof, leaving the legal risk unresolved.

Customized for your organization

Tabnine is an AI coding assistant that helps developers based on their unique codes and preferences while protecting the privacy of all users. Tabnine generates consistent and high-quality code suggestions across teams, reducing noise and helping prevent common errors.

Whether you’re choosing an AI coding assistant to make your life easier as an individual developer, or choosing a tool to deploy out to your entire engineering team to improve the effectiveness and satisfaction of your team, it’s critical to evaluate potential vendors holistically: 

• Does the AI coding assistant offer a comprehensive platform with in-line code completions and support via chat?
• Does the vendor support the full variety of IDEs and languages your team currently utilizes?
• Does the AI coding assistant leverage world-class models? Are they able to evolve their models as the technology improves?
• Can the AI platform be optimized for your engineering team with tailored models and context-awareness?
• Does the vendor offer complete privacy for your codebase and data around usage? Do they offer air-gapped deployments (on-premises or VPC) or guarantee zero data retention?
• Was the AI coding assistant trained exclusively on code with permissive licenses? Does the vendor offer protection from legal risk by limiting the recommendations to software you have the rights to and not just promises of indemnification?
• Can the vendor you are choosing meet your company’s expectations for security and compliance? 

Only Tabnine meets all of these requirements expected by enterprise engineering teams and has the history and scale of developer adoption to prove it. 

Since launching our first AI coding assistant in 2018, Tabnine has pioneered generative AI for software development. Tabnine helps development teams of every size use AI to accelerate and simplify the software development process without sacrificing privacy and security. Tabnine boosts engineering velocity, code quality, and developer happiness by automating the coding workflow through AI tools customized to your team. With more than one million monthly users, Tabnine typically automates 30–50% of code creation for each developer and has generated more than 1% of the world’s code.

Get started with Tabnine Pro for free today, or contact us to learn how we can help your engineering team be happier and more productive.