Google has launched a suite of AI-powered coding tools that directly competes with GitHub’s Copilot, according to a report from TechChurch. The announcement was made at Google’s annual I/O developer conference, which showcases the latest technology advancements and updates.

The tools announced by Google include Codey, an AI model specifically trained to handle coding-related prompts and Google Cloud queries. Codey is based on Google’s PaLM 2 large language model and was trained on a large corpus of open-source code and internal Google code samples.

Developers can access the new tools through an extension for Visual Studio Code, JetBrains IDEs, the Google Shell Editor, and Google’s cloud-hosted Workstations service. The tools support Go, Java, JavaScript, Python, and SQL.

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Google’s new coding tools will allow developers to chat with Codey in their IDE or write a comment in a text file and have it generate the relevant code. The code generation feature is not specific to Google Cloud, although the tools are integrated with the Google Cloud Platform.

While Google’s new coding tools appear to be similar to what other projects are offering, Richard Seroter, a member of the Google Cloud team, argues that what sets Google’s tool apart is its integration with the rest of the Google Cloud Platform.

For now, only a small set of trusted testers will be able to try the code assistance feature, integrated chat, and the new AI integrations in Google’s AppSheet no-code development platform. However, the company plans to reveal more information at its upcoming Cloud Next event in late August.

Google’s ultimate vision is to use its AI models to help developers manage all of their services on Google Cloud, including deploying and scaling applications, using chatbot technology. This could free developers and DevOps teams from routine tasks such as testing and deploying applications, allowing them to focus on more creative tasks.

“We’re trying to put AI at the center of the cloud experience, changing how developers interact with the cloud platform to make it more human-centric, goal-oriented, and holistic,” said Seroter. “So it’s kind of a new approach to cloud interfaces and the systems, and we’re excited about that.”

As competition in the AI-powered coding tools market heats up, it remains to be seen how developers will respond to Google’s latest offering.]

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