During the Google IO Developer Keynote we were shown how AI is being built into the Android Studio IDE. Looking very similar to the GhatGPT interface, the Android Studio Bot panel allows developers to ask for help while building apps.

Three scenarios were used to display the Bot’s usefulness:

1. Create a layout in XML and then Jetpack Compose

2. Write a unit test for the previous layout

3. Help fix a crash caused by a missing permission in Android Manifest

It’s a nice touch having the call-to-action buttons in the Bot’s response to automatically add the suggested change to your code.

In the talk it was emphasised that source code is not sent to Google as part of this feature.

In Reality …

It’s common for Google IO presentations and sample projects to use over-simplified or contrived examples to demonstrate new developer features. There’s been a lot of discussion about whether ChatGPT can replace or even meaningfully assist a developer and it appears these AI bots can currently only do some of the easier or straightforward setup-type tasks.

Google has done a pretty good job with its Android tooling updates in the past so I’m actually pretty optimistic that Bot will find a way to help our day-to-day workflows. It’s available to try out in the Android Studio Hedgehog preview version in the Canary channel; currently only available in the US.