Advanced AI paired with low-code software platforms speeds the rise of citizen developers

Last November, ChatGPT hit an incredible milestone. It attracted one million users in only five days after its launch. Within two months, it skyrocketed to an estimated 100 million monthly active users, breaking a new record of being the fastest-growing consumer internet application ever.

Generative AI has fascinated the world with its ability to create digital art, music, and essays. Now, these AI tools are poised to revolutionize low-code software development. Every AI enhancement makes it easier to create customized applications and features, providing a significant advantage for businesses looking to stay competitive.

Low-code/no-code software platforms have been around for years. Still, the pandemic’s digital acceleration has made faster, more flexible and agile business software solutions a necessity across nearly every industry. With today’s advanced AI platforms such as ChatGPT that are powered by basic text that any human can input, the software coding process can be sped up exponentially.

“As a technology services provider, we see a lot of good and a lot of danger out there. While generative AI will surely accelerate software development and automate many processes within organizations, the non-holistic view is that many newly enabled, wanna-be developers can put some functions of an organization in danger. And, from a compliance perspective, it will be critical to be able to track where AI systems like ChatGPT are obtaining the source code from, and whether that code is compliant with the data privacy and protection regulations in different regions.” said Flavia Nascimento, Head of Growth for North America at CESAR.

Gartner Inc. estimates the worldwide market for low-code development technologies will reach $26.9 billion in 2023, a nearly 20 percent increase from 2022, and that projection was made before the explosion of new AI tools hitting the market daily.

AI-assisted low-code development platforms (LCDPs) won’t replace developers anytime soon, but they are democratizing software development by empowering end-users with simplified coding abilities. Harnessing AI automation eliminates repetitive work, reduces errors, increases efficiencies, and most importantly, leads to faster app development based on real-time user behavior and predictive modeling. This ability for business users to create applications on their own or with minimal support also lowers costs and eases the chronic pinch point of IT staffing shortages.

“A few things organizations should always keep in mind: intellectual property, security, integration, scalability, continuous development, and the list goes on and on,” cautioned Nascimento. “Nevertheless, we are already experimenting with generative AI and leveraging our highly adept team of coders, data scientists and AI experts at CESAR to produce new innovations for our global client base that are secure, reliable, and compliant.” 

The rise of AI-powered LCDPs broadens access to faster decision-making processes by analyzing vast amounts of data to provide insights and recommendations that may be difficult to obtain otherwise, giving early adopters of the new technology a key competitive advantage.

Enterprise-level and long-established SaaS platforms, including Slack, Salesforce, and Microsoft Teams are already incorporating low-code capabilities to enable more  “citizen developers” to build the apps they need to boost efficiencies and performance on the fly.

Microsoft is taking this further by adding artificial-intelligence models to its Power Platform low-code developer tool and the Dynamics 365 applications. Power Virtual Agent and AI Builder now include the GPT large language model (LLM) technology as well. All of this follows Microsoft’s announcement in January that it would make a multiyear, multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI.

Despite concerns and recent calls for a moratorium on developing the most powerful AI systems, this forward momentum is unlikely to stop.

At CESAR, we are passionate advocates of technology innovation, and AI is the most profound technology revolution in our lifetime. AI solutions are already transforming jobs and our day-to-day lives, and we can expect to see even more transformation as AI technology shapes our world in the years to come.

CESAR Innovation Center in Recife, Brazil is one of Latin America’s most renowned institutions for world-class research, design, and innovation on-demand. For more than 25 years, CESAR has been a trusted partner for some of the best-known brands seeking to co-develop breakthrough innovations that up-level their competitiveness and productivity.

If your organization needs expert RD&I support, please contact CESAR about tapping into hundreds of software architects, coders, designers, researchers, UX experts, and innovation project managers, please contact us.