The List Institute (CEA Tech) and the UOC to create a virtual assistant for programmers

Software is all around you: in your laptop, telephone, car, washing machine and all the Internet of Things (IoT) devices you have in your home. They are the “source code” that nourishes society and the modern digital economy. However, developing and maintaining software is in a permanent state of crisis. List, one of CEA Tech three technological research institutes, and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) have signed an agreement to foster improvements to software development productivity and quality through artificial intelligence (AI).

Nowadays, so many software projects fail after their launch or become vulnerable to security attacks. This situation is forecast to worsen in the coming years, making it necessary to develop software that connects all types of IoT devices and can process huge amounts of data almost in real time. In this context, the List Institute (CEA Tech) and the UOC will create a virtual assistant for programmers, called the Model-IA, which for the very first time will enable just these sorts of programs to be developed and maintained thanks to the integration of AI techniques.

“This project requires combined techniques from different fields, but it promises to achieve the radical advances in software development needed to tackle the growing complexity of new software systems”, says Jordi Cabot, ICREA professor and researcher with the UOC’s Systems, Software and Models group (SOM Research Lab).

Model-IA will combine AI and model-driven engineering – processes and structures used to understand, design, analyse and maintain an application – and aims to take the lead in the emerging field of intelligent integrated development environment (IDE) applications, focusing on improving the productivity of individual developers by helping them find and reuse existing codes. The assistant will suggest improvements that programmers could make to their models (based on knowledge available online) and will continuously monitor their actions to prevent possible errors.

According to experts, the teams that will carry out software development tasks in the future will be mixed and comprise centaurs (very powerful systems that combine human and artificial intelligence) and pure bots. While only bots will be responsible for simple and repetitive tasks, centaur developers, specializing in creative initiatives, can use AI components for advice and suggestions, while also maintaining total control over the process and final decision.

About the partners

Systems, Software and Models (SOM Research Lab) is a joint ICREA and UOC Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) research team. The group focuses on software systems and engineering, primarily through the promotion of the rigorous use of software models and engineering principles in all software design work, always aware of the most unpredictable element of the entire project: the people involved.  Further information:

The List Institute (CEA Tech) specializes in research into intelligent digital systems. Its R&D programmes, all with potentially relevant economic and social implications, focus on advanced manufacturing, cyber-physical systems, artificial intelligence and e-health. The List Institute undertakes pioneering technological research with applications in a wide range of industrial markets (transport, defence and security, manufacturing, energy, etc) and its aim is to help its industrial partners raise their competitiveness level through innovation and technology transfer. Thanks to the quality of its collaborative research, the List Institute has held Institut Carnot seal since 2006 (Institut Carnot TN@UPSaclay).