TLDR: Bet365 is pioneering the use of generative AI (GenAI) to address the complex issue of technical debt and legacy code modernization. Alan Reed, head of platform innovation at bet365’s Hillside Technology, highlights GenAI’s ‘transformational’ capability in understanding existing codebases, enabling the company to identify redundancies, streamline migration to cloud-native architectures, and enhance code maintainability.
In a significant stride towards overcoming the pervasive challenge of technical debt, online betting giant bet365 is harnessing the power of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) to modernize its extensive legacy codebases. Alan Reed, head of platform innovation at bet365’s Hillside Technology platform, describes GenAI as ‘transformational with a capital T,’ emphasizing its unprecedented speed of adoption and widespread possibilities within the tech industry.
The core ‘conundrum’ bet365 sought to crack was the inherent difficulty in understanding and maintaining years of accumulated code. As Reed explains, a significant portion of a large organization’s workforce is often dedicated to maintaining legacy systems, which become increasingly complex and erode over time. The challenge lies in gaining comprehensive visibility into how this code functions, especially when developers lack direct involvement in its initial creation or ongoing maintenance.
Bet365’s innovative approach focuses on GenAI’s ability to ‘read’ and comprehend code, rather than merely generating it. Reed states, ‘Writing code is great, but what we are very interested to see is if it can read code.’ This capability is crucial for solving the problem of understanding a vast code base without requiring human developers to manually sift through every line. The initial use case for the bet365 team was precisely this: improving their understanding of the maintenance code base.
Once GenAI provides a deep level of comprehension of the legacy code, it unlocks the potential to ask more complex architectural questions vital for IT modernization. This includes identifying duplicated functionality, segmenting code for migration to cloud-native architectures, and pinpointing areas where existing code can be replaced with more performant or improved functionality from software repositories.
Reed acknowledges that the adoption of GenAI is a ‘journey,’ stating, ‘Every time you hear anything with generative AI, you hear the word journey and we’re no different.’ Bet365 is carefully measuring and understanding its application of GenAI, ensuring clarity on its specific uses. The company views GenAI not just as an AI-based work assistant or a tool for information search, but as a gateway to the ‘heavy lifting’ required in large-scale organizational transformations.
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This strategic deployment of GenAI positions bet365 at the forefront of leveraging advanced AI to tackle one of the most persistent challenges in software development: the efficient and effective modernization of legacy systems. By enabling a deeper, AI-driven understanding of their code, bet365 is paving the way for more agile, cloud-native operations and a significant reduction in technical debt.
