How is Google using AI for internal code migrations?

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Nikolov, Stoyan, Codecasa, Daniele, Sjovall, Anna, Tabachnyk, Maxim, Chandra, Satish, Taneja, Siddharth, Ziftci, Celal
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Nikolov, Stoyan
Codecasa, Daniele
Sjovall, Anna
Tabachnyk, Maxim
Chandra, Satish
Taneja, Siddharth
Ziftci, Celal
author_facet Nikolov, Stoyan
Codecasa, Daniele
Sjovall, Anna
Tabachnyk, Maxim
Chandra, Satish
Taneja, Siddharth
Ziftci, Celal
contents In recent years, there has been a tremendous interest in using generative AI, and particularly large language models (LLMs) in software engineering; indeed there are now several commercially available tools, and many large companies also have created proprietary ML-based tools for their own software engineers. While the use of ML for common tasks such as code completion is available in commodity tools, there is a growing interest in application of LLMs for more bespoke purposes. One such purpose is code migration. This article is an experience report on using LLMs for code migrations at Google. It is not a research study, in the sense that we do not carry out comparisons against other approaches or evaluate research questions/hypotheses. Rather, we share our experiences in applying LLM-based code migration in an enterprise context across a range of migration cases, in the hope that other industry practitioners will find our insights useful. Many of these learnings apply to any application of ML in software engineering. We see evidence that the use of LLMs can reduce the time needed for migrations significantly, and can reduce barriers to get started and complete migration programs.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2501_06972
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle How is Google using AI for internal code migrations?
Nikolov, Stoyan
Codecasa, Daniele
Sjovall, Anna
Tabachnyk, Maxim
Chandra, Satish
Taneja, Siddharth
Ziftci, Celal
Software Engineering
In recent years, there has been a tremendous interest in using generative AI, and particularly large language models (LLMs) in software engineering; indeed there are now several commercially available tools, and many large companies also have created proprietary ML-based tools for their own software engineers. While the use of ML for common tasks such as code completion is available in commodity tools, there is a growing interest in application of LLMs for more bespoke purposes. One such purpose is code migration. This article is an experience report on using LLMs for code migrations at Google. It is not a research study, in the sense that we do not carry out comparisons against other approaches or evaluate research questions/hypotheses. Rather, we share our experiences in applying LLM-based code migration in an enterprise context across a range of migration cases, in the hope that other industry practitioners will find our insights useful. Many of these learnings apply to any application of ML in software engineering. We see evidence that the use of LLMs can reduce the time needed for migrations significantly, and can reduce barriers to get started and complete migration programs.
title How is Google using AI for internal code migrations?
topic Software Engineering
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.06972