A study by researchers at Brown University and multiple Chinese universities has found that AI bots can develop software in under 7 minutes for less than $1.<\/p>\n
The study tasked AI bots powered by a version of ChatGPT’s 3.5 model with completing the software-development process without prior training. The researchers then created a hypothetical software-development company named ChatDev and broke it down into designing, coding, testing, and documenting.<\/p>\n
During each stage, AI workers autonomously interacted with minimal human input, from selecting the appropriate programming language to detecting and resolving code bugs. The researchers also tasked ChatDev with designing a basic Gomoku game. The CEO initiated the process by requesting a programming language, to which the CTO proposed Python, highlighting its popularity among developers. This continued through the coding stage, where the programmer requested a graphical user interface from the designer, and so forth, until the software was completed.<\/p>\n
Next, they assigned AI bots specific roles in each stage and gave them minimal human input. The researchers found that ChatDev was able to complete the full software-development process in under 7 minutes on average, at a cost of less than $1. The bots were also able to identify and troubleshoot potential vulnerabilities in the software.<\/p>\n