Google launches Code Assist, its latest challenger to GitHub's Copilot
At its Cloud Next conference, Google on Tuesday unveiled Gemini Code Assist, its enterprise-focused AI code completion and assistance tool. This tool is a rebrand of the older service and a major update from the now-defunct Duet AI branding. Google had hinted that it would move the service away from its Codey model to Gemini in the near future.
Competition with GitHub's Copilot Enterprise
Code Assist, which was demonstrated at the Google Cloud conference in Las Vegas, is set to be available through plug-ins for popular editors like VS Code and JetBrains. Google's Code Assist is positioned as a direct competitor to GitHub's Copilot Enterprise. Notably, Code Assist supports Gemini 1.5 Pro, which boasts a million-token context window, allowing for more accurate code suggestions and large-scale code transformations.
Partnerships and Features
One standout feature of Code Assist is its support for codebases sitting on-premises, in GitLab, GitHub, and Atlassian's BitBucket, among others. The tool also partners with various developer-centric companies to bring their knowledge bases to Gemini. Stack Overflow and other companies have partnered with Google to enhance the tool's offerings.
Code Assist stands out for its advanced customization options, including RAG customization, and the ability to fine-tune assistance based on a company's internal code base.
Future Prospects and Considerations
The success of Code Assist will ultimately depend on developers' reactions to its suggestions and the tool's overall performance. Google's move to support different code repositories and offer a significant context window sets a strong foundation. However, the tool's latency and effectiveness compared to competitors like Copilot will be critical factors in its adoption.
In conjunction with Code Assist, Google also announced the launch of CodeGemma, a code generation and assistance model under the Gemma family. CodeGemma aims to streamline application lifecycle management for cloud teams and optimize cloud usage.
