Google has launched a free consumer version of its AI code completion and assistance tool, Gemini Code Assist, designed to help developers with coding tasks. Dubbed Gemini Code Assist for Individuals, the tool allows developers to interact with a Google AI model using natural language, which can access and edit their codebase, fix bugs, complete sections of code, and explain complex codebases.

In addition to the individual version, Google has also rolled out Gemini Code Assist for GitHub, a code review "agent" that automatically scans pull requests to identify bugs and offers suggestions directly within GitHub. This move marks a significant step in Google's efforts to compete with Microsoft and its subsidiary, GitHub, in the developer tools space.

Notably, Gemini Code Assist for Individuals offers 180,000 code completions a month, which is 90 times the usage cap of the free GitHub Copilot plan (2,000 code completions a month). The tool also comes with 240 chat requests a day, close to 5 times the number of requests the free GitHub Copilot plan offers. This generous usage cap is likely to appeal to developers, particularly those early in their careers.

The AI model powering Gemini Code Assist for Individuals has a 128,000-token context window, which Google claims is over four times larger than what the competition offers. This enables the model to take in more code in a single prompt, allowing it to reason over more complicated codebases. Developers can sign up for the free public preview of Gemini Code Assist for Individuals starting Tuesday.

Google's move into the developer tools space is a strategic one, as the company hopes to steer developers toward its Code Assist tool early in their careers. According to Ryan Salva, who previously led the GitHub Copilot team and now spearheads Google's work on developer tooling, the company expects at least a few of those developers to someday upgrade to an enterprise Code Assist plan, which is where Google will generate revenue.

Google has been selling Gemini Code Assist to businesses for about a year, and the company announced in December that the AI coding assistant would soon integrate with third-party tools from GitLab, GitHub, and Google Docs. Enterprise Code Assist tiers add features like audit logs, integration with other Google Cloud products, and customization for private repositories.

The launch of Gemini Code Assist for Individuals and GitHub marks a significant escalation in the competition between Google and Microsoft in the developer tools space. With its generous usage caps and advanced AI capabilities, Google is poised to attract a large number of developers to its platform. As the company continues to expand its offerings, it will be interesting to see how Microsoft and GitHub respond to this new challenge.

In the broader context, the launch of Gemini Code Assist for Individuals highlights the growing importance of AI-powered developer tools in the industry. As the demand for efficient and effective coding solutions continues to rise, companies like Google and Microsoft are investing heavily in AI research and development to stay ahead of the curve. The implications of this trend are far-reaching, with the potential to transform the way developers work and create software.