In a significant move towards embracing artificial intelligence, Amazon has unveiled the remarkable impact of its generative AI assistant, Amazon Q. According to CEO Andy Jassy, Amazon Q has been a game-changer, especially in software upgrades, leading to substantial cost savings and efficiency gains.
In a recent LinkedIn post, Jassy highlighted how Amazon Q has transformed the process of upgrading applications to Java 17. What used to take 50 developer-days now only takes a few hours, thanks to the AI-powered assistant. This innovation has saved Amazon the equivalent of 4,500 developer-years of work.
Moreover, the benefits extend beyond just saving time. Jassy noted that the upgrades have improved security and reduced infrastructure costs, resulting in an estimated $260 million in annual efficiency gains. Amazon has already upgraded more than 50% of its production Java systems to modern versions with minimal effort, with 79% of auto-generated code reviews requiring no additional changes.
This development showcases how large-scale enterprises can achieve significant efficiencies in foundational software tasks by leveraging AI tools like Amazon Q.
