Democratisation of AI-powered Software: Expanding Access to Technology

By Sachin Dev Duggal, CEO & Co-Founder of Builder.ai

Since the first computer was created in the mid-20th century and Apple’s first iPhone debuted in 2007, technology and the software development that comes along with it has revolutionized our world and daily life. The challenges of the global pandemic have accelerated the need for technology solutions at a pace most of us have never seen before.

If there’s one thing the pandemic taught businesses, it’s that they need to ensure they have the systems and software in place to be agile and ready to survive and thrive in what’s to come – no matter what that is. But the current software development process is broken. Almost eight in 10 software development projects fail1.

Software is being developed across a vast range of sectors that includes artificial intelligence (AI). A common misconception is that companies using AI are investing heavily on leading data specialists and developers. The reality is far different. This is where democratization comes in.

It’s the idea that everyone can and should have access to software and AI powered systems. Low-code/no-code platforms enable businesses with limited or even no technical knowledge to create custom software more efficiently and accuracy, all at a more affordable price. Now, the future of technology is in intelligence.

AI has already become a main driver of emerging technologies, from big data to robotics and IoT. AI is now transforming the software development space itself and making it easier for businesses of all sizes.

Help with Strategy and Decision Making

From the development stage, which features are included in an initial app or update release can seriously affect purchasing decisions, and in turn, business results. AI can work to streamline strategy powered by the collective insight of all interactions; for example when it comes to selecting features and running simulations to get a clearer idea of customer perspective based on feedback culled from online conversations.

AI & predictive tech can help with make-or-break aspects of development, like budget and deadlines, too. It can more accurately project costs and production timelines by analysing full data sets more finely, taking project results from the past and combining them with potential feature sets and even feedback from developers.

Streamline Maintenance and Coding

Any software developers knows that countless maintenance hours and dollars are spent on managing redundant features on the backend. AI can reference data across multiple sources to identify these redundancies, which streamlines ongoing maintenance while saving work hours and limiting spending.

AI can predict the code that a developer is going to write, which can cut down keystrokes by as much as 70%. Reusing code through AI can save businesses a significant amount of time and money. AI is taking testing to the next level in terms of both accuracy and speed, catching most errors before software goes to the test phase. By running more variable tests, issues that could occur when programs are fully operational are more likely to be caught.

Project Management

Many software projects are scrapped before they ever see the light of day because user demands are not being met. Development platforms are under pressure due to high demand and a shortage of competent developers. The process of gathering, tracking and validating what users need is labor intensive. With AI, developers don’t need to sift through code. AI can help showcase user behaviors and needs, making it easier for developers to fulfill those needs.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, many smaller businesses without a robust digital strategy found out the hard way how vulnerable they were in a disruptive environment. Today, even two years later, stretched-thin SMBs are struggling to adapt. Fortunately, they’ve been presented with an opportunity to rethink how they do business. Having a thoughtful digital presence is critical, Low-code/no-code machine learning platforms, powered by AI, enable non-experts to create applications with predefined components and programming — making it easier than ever for them to access and harness the power of AI and all its related solutions.

1 https://www.geneca.com/why-up-to-75-of-software-projects-will-fail/