On Tuesday, Google introduced a new, free consumer version of its AI code completion and assistance tool, Gemini Code Assist for Individuals. Alongside this, the company also unveiled Gemini Code Assist for GitHub, a specialized code review "agent" designed to automatically identify bugs in code and provide suggestions directly within GitHub.
The Code Assist for Individuals tool allows developers to engage with a Google AI model through a chat interface, using natural language to access and edit their codebase. Similar to GitHub’s popular Copilot tool, Gemini Code Assist for Individuals can fix bugs, complete sections of code, or explain unclear parts of the codebase.
Google’s AI coding assistant uses an advanced version of the company's Gemini 2.0 AI model, meticulously fine-tuned for coding applications. This tool seamlessly integrates with popular coding environments like VS Code and JetBrains via plugins, supporting a wide range of popular programming languages.
One of the standout features of Code Assist for Individuals is that it offers 180,000 code completions per month, which is 90 times the usage cap of the free GitHub Copilot plan, limited to 2,000 code completions monthly. Additionally, this tool provides 240 chat requests daily, approximately five times the number available in the free GitHub Copilot plan.
The model behind Code Assist for Individuals boasts a 128,000-token context window, significantly larger than what competitors offer. This allows the model to process more code in a single prompt, enabling it to handle more complex codebases effectively.
Developers interested in exploring this innovative tool can sign up for the free public preview of Gemini Code Assist for Individuals starting Tuesday.
As for Gemini Code Assist for GitHub, this tool automatically scans pull requests to detect bugs and offers additional helpful recommendations. This marks a significant step as Google intensifies its efforts to compete with Microsoft and its subsidiary, GitHub, in the developer tools space.
Approximately seven months ago, Google hired Ryan Salva, the former leader of the GitHub Copilot team, to lead Google’s initiatives in developer tooling. By offering a free AI coding assistant with substantial usage caps, Google aims to attract developers early in their careers to Gemini Code Assist. In an interview with TechCrunch, Salva expressed optimism that some of these developers might eventually upgrade to an enterprise Code Assist plan, thereby generating revenue for Google.
