Code Migration with AI: Transforming Legacy Systems at Google

Google is taking on a massive challenge: migrating billions of lines of code using advanced AI techniques. With a codebase as big as Google’s, keeping everything up to date is incredibly tough. Traditional methods, which rely on hundreds of engineers, just aren’t cutting it anymore — it’s time for a new approach, and AI is stepping up to the plate.

AI is perfect for this job, turning what could be a nightmare of manual updates into a much smoother, more efficient process. In a codebase this large, finding every single spot that needs an update is like finding needles in a haystack. But AI excels at this — it scans billions of lines of code and pinpoints exactly where changes need to happen, using advanced pattern recognition.

What’s really cool about generative AI is how proactive it is. Once it finds the patterns, it doesn’t just flag them — it actually goes ahead and makes the necessary changes, cutting out the need for manual updates. This is huge because it saves a ton of time and effort. And since everything in a codebase this large is interconnected, even a small mistake can snowball into big problems. But AI has that covered too — it validates the changes it makes, running tests to make sure everything works correctly, and tweaking things as needed. It’s a massive time-saver for engineers.

One of the ways AI really shines is in migrating 32-bit to 64-bit integers. The AI scans the entire codebase, finds all the 32-bit integers, and automatically replaces them with 64-bit versions. But it doesn’t stop there — it also adjusts any related code to keep everything running smoothly, handling a job that would have been a huge headache if done manually.

Not only did Google pull off this migration, but they made sure it was done right, preserving the value of the older code. Google’s approach here is likely to be a game-changer for others in the industry, setting a new standard for large-scale code migrations.

And we’re going to see efficiencies like this popping up all over in large organizations. What makes AI so powerful is how it scales. In a company with $1 billion in revenue, even a 1% boost in efficiency can have a massive impact.July 18, 2024.