Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced the launch of the new AWS App Studio, a natural language development platform for enterprises to create applications in just minutes.
The company says that users can create enterprise-grade applications by simply describing what they want from the application, how they want it to work, and what data sources the application will get its information from.
According to Sriram Devanathan, general manager of Amazon Q at AWS, the product's “ease of use” is what makes it stand out. IT Pro Let's go into a bit more detail about how potential users will interact with the platform.
“We can have a live conversation and once that's done, we think the requirements and the functionality are pretty much finalized, we say, 'Generate the app,' and it generates a fully functional app,” Devanathan said.
Once an application is created, users can modify it using a “point-and-click” interface within the platform, or they can contact a built-in generative AI assistant for guidance in solving a specific problem.
AWS argued that a lack of development resources means many internal applications “go unbuilt,” forcing employees to use low-code tools, which “come with their own challenges.”
“Current low-code tools often require a steep learning curve and platform-specific knowledge, and the applications users build often do not meet enterprise security requirements,” AWS said.
The new app studio is the company's solution to this problem, claiming it's an AI-powered tool that doesn't sacrifice enterprise-grade requirements.
AWS App Studio is looking to take on OpenAI's GPT Store
OpenAI's equivalent GPT Store Last year, some industry players raised quality concerns about AI-generated development platforms.
Although GPT Store was a consumer-facing product and specifically designed with custom chatbots in mind, experts at the time pointed out that an overly simplistic development process could lead to compromised quality and security.
However, responding to a question on this, Devanathan said AWS App Studio has built-in features to protect individual organisations from the proliferation of low-quality apps.
“We build security and governance into the core of all our products, so we have an admin portal within App Studio where admins can see all the apps that have been built,” Devanathan said. IT Pro.
This will act as a “governance function” within the platform, allowing for coordinated oversight to ensure companies are “only building the apps they need,” Devanathan added. This will ultimately allow companies to do “what's best for them,” he said.
Concerns about the quality of AI-generated platforms
talk IT Pro When the GPT Store was released in 2023, futurist Theo Priestley said it could slow app development to minutes and flood the store with low-quality products and weak clones of other GPTs.
In his criticism of the GPT Store, Priestley also raised security concerns, specifically talking about “business users” who may not have any IT knowledge but who create their own apps and potentially violate company rules.
He called the platform “inferior” to no-code and low-code app creation platforms, and lamented the creation of a “new generation of disposable apps” within businesses and enterprises.
AWS App Studio is a very different product in that it is designed for internal use and has guardrails in place to protect companies from similar issues, but the same concerns can arise if companies using the platform don't take advantage of these guardrails.
