Everybody in the IBM i space knows that Big Blue is working on a coding assistant based on generative AI models to help developers write better and more consistent RPG applications with what everyone assumes will be a smaller and smaller programming talent pool.
But there is more to leveraging AI as a tool for application development and modernization than this. There are those who want to be able to use GenAI tools that can analyze and convert code from one language to another – much as the same large language models were first trained to translate between two languages and then across all languages.
There is an opportunity to use AI as a means of teaching both new programmers with very little experience as well as experienced programmers with lots of their own skills and context how to program – and program well – in RPG and COBOL, the languages of the IBM i platform.