CodeWhisperer, Amazon’s AI-powered assistive coding tool, is now known as Q Developer, a part of Amazon’s Q family of generative AI chatbots that also includes Q Business. Q Developer assists developers with tasks like debugging, app upgrading, troubleshooting, security scans, and more.
In an interview with TechCrunch, Doug Seven, GM and director of AI developer experiences at AWS, mentioned that CodeWhisperer faced challenges in branding and user adoption. Third-party metrics showed that CodeWhisperer struggled to compete with GitHub Copilot. As a result, CodeWhisperer evolved into Q Developer to cater to a wider range of use cases.
Q Developer can generate SQL code, assist with code testing, and help developers implement new code. Similar to Copilot, customers can customize and improve Q Developer’s programming recommendations for their internal codebases. Through a feature called Agents, Q Developer can autonomously perform tasks like implementing features and refactoring code.
Q Developer creates a development environment to work on code changes, similar to GitHub’s Copilot Workspace. However, concerns about AI-powered coding assistants generating flawed code and security issues persist.
Q Developer also offers cloud infrastructure management capabilities on AWS, assisting with tasks like listing Lambda functions and AWS resources in various regions. The free version of Q Developer has limitations and monthly caps, while the premium version, Q Developer Pro, offers higher usage limits and additional features for $19 per month per user.
Vendors argue that fair use protects them in cases where a model is developed using copyrighted code, but not everyone agrees. GitHub and OpenAI are facing a lawsuit that claims they violated copyright by allowing their tool, Copilot, to use licensed code snippets without giving credit. Amazon has stated that they will defend Q Developer Pro customers against claims of IP infringement, as long as they allow AWS to handle the defense and settlement process.
