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Writing software is The essential G in GPT

This is no exaggeration: the CEO of Truist said at the
twice as fast with time that only the merger behind the new bank, the sixth
largest in the United States by deposits, in December 2019
generative AI would give them the scale to afford all the technology
they needed.

Who is going to update the software of the 4,000 banks
in America smaller than Truist, which are also being
challenged and disrupted by fintech companies and digital
banks? Who can afford to write new software for all the
acquirers, processors and merchant services providers of
these traditional organizations?

The answer is that we will be able to afford all the new
software we need because the new generative artificial
intelligence software, the “G” in GPT, is highly efficient at
helping bright talent disrupt how we write new software.

By Alexis Rockenbach How efficient? Last March, OpenAI President Greg
Brockman showed his new system a handmade drawing of
Compass UOL a website in his notebook and returned a functional website
with working code in seconds. And his handwriting is
’m sure you feel constantly challenged by technol- atrocious.
ogy changing all the time. As a software develop-
ment professional, I feel challenged, too. Take the Productivity multiplied
I technology company OpenAI and its innovations
on generative AI. The company introduced ChatGPT in At Compass UOL we looked into how much of our work we
November, 2022 reached 100 million users in three months could automate in March 2023, and we learned from our
and released a new version in mid-March—a new bar in software engineers, customers and our partners that they
exponential growth. have already achieved a 38 percent productivity increase,
on average, by using AI tools in the last five years.
Though using tools such as ChatGPT to write software
is still under discussion, there is no question that coders Our researchers predicted that by 2025, we will achieve a
have made specific tasks within the software development 114 percent productivity gain, using the same benchmark.
process more efficient by using AI as a productivity tool, The software development tasks to solve a specific use
improving the way they work. case within the scope of Compass’s study took an average
of 78 hours a few years ago before AI was introduced in the
AI in action process, took 56 hours with the AI we employed through
2022, and are estimated to take 36 hours with new Gen AI
Software developers have recently started using AI for tools by 2025.
things like gathering requirements, analyzing business
opportunities and designing new architectures. During That is less than half the time writing software took
the implementation phase, they are using AI to jumpstart everyone in the industry around 2018, not that long ago.
code writing, review new code and create datasets to speed It will be a huge shift in how we build digital platforms.
up testing. Finally, AI-improved performance monitoring
tools are helping make deployment and maintenance This doesn’t mean that software developers are no longer
more effective and precise. required: they are needed more than ever. It is just that
we no longer need to start from scratch. We will automate
Think about that impact in one of the industries with the things that take the longest and that we enjoy the
significant volumes of demand for software development: least—like writing manuals and creating use cases—and
financial services. Imagine what we could accomplish will spend more time on creative and complex business
if we were to use AI to update the underlying software, discussions to build the best applications that allow
much of which is decades old, of all financial transactions leading companies from different industries to thrive.
more quickly in the United States.

Today this feels like a dream because updating banking Alexis Rockenbach is co-founder and CEO of Compass UOL, a digital
systems is a tough challenge. It takes years of work and transformation services company. For more information on the com-
such massive investments that only the most prominent pany, please visit https://compass.uol. To connect with Alexis, see www.
financial institutions in the country can barely afford it. linkedin.com/in/alexis-rockenbach-7a83a91a/.
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