BT Group’s Digital division has rolled out Amazon CodeWhisperer, a generative AI coding assistant from Amazon Web Services (AWS). The deployment supports BT’s wider push for modernisation, streamlined workflows, and improved developer tooling across the organisation.
CodeWhisperer delivers real-time, AI-powered code suggestions ranging from single snippets to complete functions inside popular integrated development environments (IDEs). It interprets natural-language comments and existing code context to assist developers across 15 programming languages.
Built with security and responsible coding in mind, the tool filters out potentially biased or inappropriate suggestions, flags outputs that resemble identifiable open-source training data, and can detect vulnerabilities while proposing remediation code.
Deepika Adusumilli, Chief Data and AI Officer, Digital at BT Group, said: “This is a major milestone not just for BT Group, but for the industry. It empowers our colleagues and helps us deliver solutions to customers faster. This is just the first step in our wider AI-powered product lifecycle management strategy.”
Boosting productivity and efficiency
By automating repetitive and time-consuming tasks, CodeWhisperer is already increasing developer productivity at BT. Engineers report receiving an average of 15–20 code suggestions per day, with roughly 37% of recommendations accepted.
In its first four months, the tool produced more than 100,000 lines of code and eliminated approximately 12% of repetitive work for an initial pilot group. BT has since expanded access to about 1,200 engineers across the business to accelerate adoption and broaden impact.
Responsible AI implementation
BT emphasizes robust safeguards to ensure transparency, accountability, intellectual property compliance, and data privacy when using CodeWhisperer. Measures put in place include:
- Clear guardrails: Well-defined coding guidelines and usage policies for the engineering community.
- Learning and onboarding: Tailored training resources and onboarding sessions available through BT Group’s Digital Campus.
- Data control and transparency: Controls around training data and processes to mitigate intellectual property and privacy risks.
Fabio Cerone, Director, Telco Industry, EMEA at AWS, commented: “Our work with BT Group showcases the value and efficiency of generative AI in software development. CodeWhisperer frees developers from repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on core problem-solving and delivering better solutions.”
BT Group’s adoption of CodeWhisperer highlights how generative AI can reshape software development—improving developer productivity while encouraging safe, responsible coding practices as organisations embrace new AI capabilities.
(Photo by Metin Ozer on Unsplash)
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