In a recent study, researchers tasked an AI-powered tech company with creating 70 different programs. The remarkable results show that AI can develop software in less than seven minutes, costing less than one dollar on average. These AI chatbots were assigned various roles, demonstrating their ability to converse, make logical decisions, and troubleshoot bugs.
The experiment, conducted by a team of researchers from Brown University and multiple Chinese universities, aimed to assess if AI bots, powered by a version of ChatGPT’s 3.5 model, could complete software development without prior training.
The researchers formed a hypothetical software-development company named ChatDev, following the waterfall model, consisting of stages: designing, coding, testing, and documenting. They provided AI bots with specific roles, including CEO, CTO, programmer, and art designer, each allocated to their respective stages.
With minimal human input, the AI chatbots collaborated at each stage to complete the software-development process, from selecting a programming language to identifying code issues. The experiment covered various software scenarios, analyzing the time and cost for each.
For instance, they tasked ChatDev with designing a basic Gomoku game, with the CEO and CTO deciding on Python as the programming language. The entire process was remarkably efficient.
Overall, ChatDev completed the entire software development process in under seven minutes, costing less than one dollar, on average. The study also highlighted the bots’ ability to identify and address potential vulnerabilities through memory and self-reflection, with 86.66% of the generated software systems executing flawlessly.
While acknowledging limitations like errors and biases in language models, the researchers believe that these findings could benefit junior programmers and engineers in the real world. The study underscores the potential of generative AI technologies like ChatGPT in specific job functions, demonstrating their efficiency and cost-effectiveness.
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