News

Low-Code Vendor OutSystems Unveils AI/ML Development Initiative

• By David Ramel
• November 1, 2018

OutSystems, known for its low-code app development tools, announced an initiative to bring artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) functionality to software development.

That initiative is manifested in the new outsystems.ai project and features an OutSystems research lab and partnerships with educational institutions, industry experts and technology groups.

The initiative's goal is to explore the use of AI and ML techniques such as neural program synthesis and natural language processing to assist with application development.

OutSystems noted that research firm Gartner Inc. recently identified AI-driven development as a top 10 strategic technology trend for 2019. Gartner said: "By 2022, at least 40 percent of new application development projects will have AI co-developers on their team."

The outsystems.ai project builds upon the company's Project Turing announced eight months ago with the goals of:

• Building a new AI Center of Excellence in Lisbon, Portugal
• Committing 20 percent of the company's overall R&D resources to the task
• Partnering with industry experts, technology leaders and universities to drive original research and innovation in the field of AI/ML

While much of the initiative involves research and development in conjunction with partners that is expected to pay off in concrete coding implementations in the future, one tangible product available now is described as an "AI co-pilot" or "wingman" that can help OutSystems developers by:

• Predicting a developer's next-needed activity
• Recommending the most likely options
• Placing a chosen activity into the Service Studio tool for configuration

OutSystems is inviting developers to apply for early access to the program here.

"EAP participants will get early access to outsystems.ai applied research that can accelerate application development by 25 percent," the company said in statement this week. "Through usage and feedback, EAP participants will also help OutSystems improve the accuracy of outsystems.ai and influence the roadmap of outsystems.ai moving forward."