How Generative AI and Low-Code Can Work Together
No-code and low-code solutions have carved a great niche for themselves in the business productivity market in recent years. Whether it is as bespoke and customizable solutions for verticals and teams or as part of enterprise products, interest and adoption for these tools have driven a boom in “citizen developers.”
The main selling point is obvious: they enable any professional to build an app to digitize a process without waiting for expensive developer time or budget approval. That’s a major plus for most companies but particularly for firms with limited IT resources — or budgets. No-code/low-code tools can help improve processes and deliver strategic value rapidly.
But the arrival of generative AI has shaken that concept up. Among the AI-tech-bros-bubble, advocates wave around impressive results where the likes of ChatGPT, given the correct prompts, can provide website designs, plugins and even functional code on demand.
So, is no-code under threat?
The Threat of ChatGPT to No-Code Tools
Whether AI is poised to replace low-code/no-code tools is a question that’s been frequently raised in recent months. But while the rush of ChatGPT-like tools may threaten to drown out some of the positive noise about no code, they really should instead be working in tandem.
AIs can work in several ways for coders and non-coders. They can, for example, inspect a broken code and fix it. Or they can take a request (visual or in text form) from someone with no coding skills and create an app or code to solve a specific problem or perform a function.
Microsoft has recently demonstrated the power of combining the two branches. In March, the company integrated AI into its low-code Power Platform app suite, augmenting features with Copilot. This enabled workers to describe their problem or desired outcome, in plain English, so the system could offer a solution or answer.
Several other tools that mix both elements have already begun hitting the market, proving there’s a happy marriage somewhere in the mix.
Encouraging the Next Generation of No-Coders
So far, the early results are exciting for those in the no-code fold or looking to exploit low/no-code services. On Twitter, business consultant “Angry Tom” provides useful ChatGPT cheat sheets and highlights initial successes as “20-year-old kids are using AI and No-Code tools to make $10,000/m. Here are 8 AI and No-Code tools to start printing money online.”
The linking of generative AI and low/no-code tools has the potential to solve many business problems faster than previously through a pure no-code solution, even one with drag-and-drop features.
And if you are just starting a business, Twitter seems to be the place to go for ideas and guides on mixing these technologies to create business propositions.
For a practical example, take Louis Pereira, creator of AudioPen, an app he built almost by accident by playing with OpenAI’s APIs. The app promises to organize a person’s “messy thoughts” and produce notes, emails, memos or longer-form text.
He says the impact of AI and no-code has made it easier for anyone to create solutions like his. His product is a good example. “I'm an individual working on AudioPen part-time at night,” he said. “I built it from idea to revenue in 12 hours. Imagine telling someone that was possible, even 3 years ago!”
Perhaps the bigger benefit of all this, however, is that it increases the speed of experimentation. “Most things will fail, but the cost of experimentation will be so low that anyone who decides to spend time with it will eventually create a successful product much, much faster than they otherwise would have,” Pereira said.
Related Article: The Real Benefits of Low Code Aren't What You Think They Are
An AI Gold Rush?
The fascination in these new capabilities is driven on one hand by pure curiosity and on the other by competition and fear of disruption.
“As organizations begin to adapt to these new digital tools, they will have a competitive advantage that will put pressure on other organizations to follow suit,” Richard Harbridge, CTO at 2toLead, said.
And that goes beyond corporations to include individuals in their respective functions. “It isn’t AI that will take the job of a person, but a person who knows how to collaborate with AI better who will,” he said.
But one of the fears right now is understanding and assessing the risks involved.
Learning Opportunities
Many organizations are choosing a way-and-see approach, preferring to be early followers rather than early adopters. Enterprises like Samsung have warned employees not to use AI tools like Bard — and they are far from the only ones. But as these AI capabilities continue to merge with no-code tools, those looking to innovate may find it nearly impossible to resist.
Meanwhile, for growing firms, enterprise tool providers are proving quick in adding AI firepower to their creations. An early example mixing the two is Moveworks’ Creator Studio, badged as a “A No-Code Platform for Enterprise Conversational AI.” Launched at the end of April, it connects workers and applications across a business through natural language. It enables teams to create custom conversational AI use cases in minutes, with no coding, scripting or complex dialogue required.
Related Article: Why Organizations Still Struggle With Deploying AI
The Pace of Change
Based on what we’ve seen so far, in a frenetically evolving landscape, AI isn’t likely to replace no-code or the people who use it. Instead, it is expected to accelerate what we produce and improve our capabilities, reducing the specific nature of ideas that people have which can be solved by no-code tools. They will ask a question, get the answer and tweak it to meet their needs or add further value.
Harbridge said the impact will be “significant in enabling people to do more, especially in the initial stages of exploration, design and experimentation,” and he expects the transition to happen at a much faster pace than it has with earlier technologies, particularly when it comes to certain use cases.
“In some categories like Power Virtual Agents the interface work is already aligned, so the change is more pronounced,” he said. “There is a big question on whether the interfaces of the future are 'app'-based versus language-based as well, which may factor into the way we all navigate this in the coming years.”
The fact that both technologies enable just about anyone to generate apps or solutions without the technical skills will potentially accelerate the shift. There may be casualties or significant impacts along the way, though. For instance, skilled technologists may find that they are being suddenly overlooked or gradually displaced.
For now, however, adoption of AI has been heavily contained to experimentation. There is still a gap in understanding the value for business, but Harbridge says simple use cases are becoming quite common for improving communication, research, summarization and sense-making.
Related Article: Low-Code/No-Code Extends Its Reach in the Digital Workplace
Where No-Code Can Lead the Way
In addition to the high-profile use cases of text and image creation, AI is expected to benefit productivity applications, business processes and research efforts, among others, turning complex or nuanced scientific, societal and strategic requests into achievable insights or results.
As more tools add generative AI features (for example, both Google Docs Labs and Grammarly offered to let me play with new AI features as part of their apps during the writing of this article), awareness will rise.
Soon, AI and no-code tools will work together as part of a productivity stack, a strong partnership enabling people to solve problems, address pain points and deliver results faster.
The issue with AI tools is that so many are hitting the market (see the Supertools list of the latest and best) that they are easy to miss or ignore, especially for busy professionals. And with low/no-code tools embedded in so many applications, it is more likely that the majority of business users will see AI assistance creep into those existing tools as they adopt them, forming a strong bond and harmony for those who need to create the tools for their business.
About the Author
Geoff Spick is a Bournemouth, England-based tech writer with over 25 years of experience across Gartner, Infor and a host of startups and SMBs as a freelance marketing content creator. With fingers on the pulse of digital business, automation, no/low-code and productivity solutions, he is familiar with most bumps on the road to digital transformation.
Connect with Geoff Spick:
Featured Research
Buyer's Guide
Read Now
Research Report
Read Now
eBook
Read Now
Research Report
Read Now
White Paper
Read Now
Research Report
Read Now
Guide
Read Now
Guide
Read Now
Related Stories
Reworked CONNECT 2024 - Pre-Registration is Now Open!
