Amazon's AI Assistant CodeWhisperer Saves 4,500 Years of Developer Work, Says CEO Andy Jassy

Amazon CEO Jasey said its AI software assistant saved 4,500 years of work By Investing.com

Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) CEO Andy Jassy said Thursday that the company's AI software assistant, Amazon Q, has saved "4,500 developer-years" for its software teams. In an X.com post, Jasey noted that updating foundational software is "one of the most tedious tasks for software development teams." "It's not new feature work, and it doesn't feel like you're moving the experience forward. As a result, this work is either dreaded or put off for more exciting work -- or both," Jassy explained. However, with Amazon Q, the company's assistant for software development, this task has become significantly easier. By integrating its new capabilities into Amazon's internal systems, the company has seen the average time to upgrade an application to Java 17 drop from what typically takes 50 developer-days to just a few hours. "We estimate this has saved us the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years of work (yes, that number is crazy but, real)," Jassy highlighted. In less than six months, Amazon has upgraded over 50% of its production Java systems to modernized versions, notably faster and with much less effort than previously possible. Jassy also said that developers were able to ship 79% of the auto-generated code reviews without making any additional changes. Beyond the significant reduction in effort for developers, these upgrades have also improved security and lowered infrastructure costs, leading to an estimated $260 million in annualized efficiency gains. "This is a great example of how large-scale enterprises can gain significant efficiencies in foundational software hygiene work by leveraging Amazon Q," Jassy added. The AI assistant has been a "game changer," he continued, with the team behind it already working on adding more transformations for developers to leverage.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy Says Company's AI Assistant Has Saved $260M And 4.5K Developer-Years Of Work: 'It's Been A Game Changer For Us' - Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN)

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN CEO Andy Jassy announced that their generative artificial intelligence assistant, Amazon Q, has significantly cut down software upgrade times, saving thousands of work hours. What Happened: Jassy shared in a LinkedIn post on Thursday that Amazon Q has been integrated into the company's internal systems to streamline foundational software updates. He noted that the average time to upgrade an application to Java 17 dropped from 50 developer days to just a few hours. "It's been a game changer for us." Jassy highlighted that this efficiency has saved Amazon the equivalent of "4,500 developer-years of work." He also mentioned that 79% of AI-generated code reviews were shipped without additional changes, emphasizing the tool's accuracy. Beyond time savings, Jassy pointed out that the upgrades have enhanced security and reduced infrastructure costs, providing an estimated $260 million in annualized efficiency gains. He acknowledged that AI tools like Amazon Q boost productivity. "One of the most tedious (but critical tasks) for software development teams is updating foundational software. It's not new feature work, and it doesn't feel like you're moving the experience forward. As a result, this work is either dreaded or put off for more exciting work -- or both," Jessy said. Jassy affirmed that Amazon plans to continue leveraging Amazon Q for further operations, with the Q team aiming to add more transformation capabilities for developers. See Also: Rivian Hits Rough Patch: Production Halts, Leadership Shake-Ups Dent Stock Why It Matters: Amazon Q's success in saving thousands of work hours is a significant milestone for the company, especially given its rocky start. The AI chatbot faced criticism for producing incorrect outputs, known as "hallucinations," shortly after its launch. Insiders attributed these issues to a rushed deployment and the use of a less proficient version of Anthropic's Claude AI model. To address these problems, Amazon expanded its team of human reviewers to manually fine-tune the chatbot's outputs. Despite these early setbacks, Amazon Q has shown remarkable progress. In April, Jassy highlighted the potential of Amazon Q to revolutionize software development, particularly in helping developers transition from Microsoft Windows to Linux. He noted that the AI chatbot could save developers months by facilitating the move from older versions of Java to newer, more secure ones. Moreover, the broader implications of AI in coding were discussed by Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman in June. He suggested that AI could soon dominate coding tasks, fundamentally changing what it means to be a developer by 2025. Amazon's advancements in AI have also caught the attention of investors. Stephanie Link, Chief Investment Strategist & Portfolio Manager at Hightower Advisors, recently doubled down on Amazon stock, citing the company's multi-billion dollar run rate in AI as a key factor. Read Next: Pro-Bitcoin Senator Cynthia Lummis Says 'Not A Single Indication' That Kamala Harris Would Be Good For The Crypto Industry Image Via Shutterstock This story was generated using Benzinga Neuro and edited by Kaustubh Bagalkote Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on gen AI assistant: "Saved us...4,500 developer-years" - Times of India

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy revealed how the company's generative AI assistant, Amazon Q, has been a "game changer". In a recent LinkedIn post, Jassy said that the e-commerce major integrated Amazon Q into its internal systems to update its foundational software. Jassy noted that Amazon Q helped the company's developers ship 79% of the AI-generated code reviews without any additional changes.He even mentioned that the AI assistant saved thousands of developer years and millions of dollars for the company. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy on Amazon Q In his LinkedIn post, Jassy wrote: "One of the most tedious (but critical tasks) for software development teams is updating foundational software. It's not new feature work, and it doesn't feel like you're moving the experience forward. As a result, this work is either dreaded or put off for more exciting work -- or both. Amazon Q, our GenAI assistant for software development, is trying to bring some light to this heaviness. We have a new code transformation capability, and here's what we found when we integrated it into our internal systems and applied it to our needed Java upgrades: - The average time to upgrade an application to Java 17 plummeted from what's typically 50 developer days to just a few hours. We estimate this has saved us the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years of work (yes, that number is crazy but, real). - In under six months, we've been able to upgrade more than 50% of our production Java systems to modernised Java versions at a fraction of the usual time and effort. And, our developers shipped 79% of the auto-generated code reviews without any additional changes. - The benefits go beyond how much effort we've saved developers. The upgrades have enhanced security and reduced infrastructure costs, providing an estimated $260M in annualised efficiency gains. This is a great example of how large-scale enterprises can gain significant efficiencies in foundational software hygiene work by leveraging Amazon Q. It's been a game changer for us, and not only do our Amazon teams plan to use this transformation capability more, but our Q team plans to add more transformations for developers to leverage. The TOI Tech Desk is a dedicated team of journalists committed to delivering the latest and most relevant news from the world of technology to readers of The Times of India. TOI Tech Desk's news coverage spans a wide spectrum across gadget launches, gadget reviews, trends, in-depth analysis, exclusive reports and breaking stories that impact technology and the digital universe. Be it how-tos or the latest happenings in AI, cybersecurity, personal gadgets, platforms like WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook and more; TOI Tech Desk brings the news with accuracy and authenticity.