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Featured in the Irish Times: Going inside the AI black box

Apr 26, 2024
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Sema's chief scientist and co-founder Brendan Cody-Kenny recently shared commentary for The Irish Times on the topic of whether GenAI threatens or turbocharges organizations. Key quotes are below, and you can read the full article here.

  • “We provide a report, kind of like getting a report on your car.”
  • “It’s about finding out how much AI is being used in your codebase. We go inside the ‘black box’ which might be made up of a million lines of code, written by 100 different people, over the past 10 years, as part of a client’s technical due diligence.”
  • “If something is purely written by AI you might not be able to get copyright for your code. Also, if developers are copying and pasting stuff you have to assess how fit for purpose it really is. It’s a bit like doing a university thesis and putting in some paragraphs from ChatGPT – it might not flow.”
  • “The potential for productivity gains is massive. It’s like everyone in your development team suddenly has their own intern. You’re not doubling capacity but you are giving each of them 50 percent extra.”
  • “Many times I’ll say to the GenAI system, here’s some XML I want in CSV – write some code that will do that. It’s very good at tasks but currently if you ask it to do anything too complicated, it doesn’t get there. However, within a year, you might well be able to give it access to your entire codebase. That will, of course, be a risk, but it will have the context that it is currently missing.”
  • “It won’t be long before you could tell the GenAI that you want your code to be faster, then head off for the weekend while it chugs away, while it has the access to modify and test the code, and get it done. At that stage the only limit will be the size of your credit card.”
  • “Everybody is trying to get it plugged into context now, to add it to workflows.”

Keeping track of global GenAI compliance standards 

Periodically, Sema publishes a no-cost newsletter covering new developments in Gen AI code compliance. The newsletter shares snapshots and excerpts from Sema’s GenAI Code compliance Database. Topics include recent highlights of regulations, lawsuits, stakeholder requirements, mandatory standards, and optional compliance standards. The scope is global. You can sign up to receive the newsletter here.

About Sema Technologies, Inc. 

Sema is the leader in comprehensive codebase scans with over $1T of enterprise software organizations evaluated to inform our dataset. We are now accepting pre-orders for AI Code Monitor, which translates compliance standards into “traffic light warnings” for CTOs leading fast-paced and highly productive engineering teams. You can learn more about our solution by contacting us here.

Disclosure

Sema publications should not be construed as legal advice on any specific facts or circumstances. The contents are intended for general information purposes only. To request reprint permission for any of our publications, please use our “Contact Us” form. The availability of this publication is not intended to create, and receipt of it does not constitute, an attorney-client relationship. The views set forth herein are the personal views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of the Firm.

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