Software Engineering for Artificial Intelligence

Coding Assistance (CA) refers to automated tools that help with developer tasks like code completion, bug detection, etc., like the ones we get access to using our favorite IDEs like IntelliJ or Eclipse. Recently, there has been a surge of research into utilizing artificial intelligence (AI), especially deep neural networks and transformers, to assist with code completion. The most famous manifestation of this is GitHub’s Copilot project. However, these approaches also have similar challenges, primarily because they rely on code in the wild to learn. Code written by human beings in the wild has its own issues, like bugs, vulnerabilities, and privacy concerns. In this context, it is of paramount importance to understand the state of the art in the field of AI for code assistance and work on future research.

In this seminar, we will explore current scientific work in the area of applying AI for CA. Under the guidance of one of our advisors, you will work on different topics in small groups. Details on the available topics will be announced at the first event. We provide you with an introduction to your topic and some starting resources. You will then explore your topic, find further resources, and summarize and discuss your findings in a short paper. We encourage you to develop and outline new ideas in your paper that could advance the current state of the art. At the end of the seminar, you will present your findings to the other participants.