Since their launch in 2000, JetBrains has gone from a small team of three developers selling their code refactoring tool for Java developers to a powerhouse software development company of over 1900 employees selling a full suite of integrated development environments (IDE’s) for developers and project managers. Like many tech companies, they have joined the A.I. movement and added brand new features like full-line code autocompletion with their latest update.

As concerns over security and privacy continue to grow globally, it is more important now than ever that developers are using products that are not easily compromised. Ryan Daws of Developer-Tech News reports “JetBrains’ local AI code completion provides an alternative to cloud-based offerings like GitHub’s Copilot, which has raised concerns around privacy and intellectual property”. By running models locally rather than in the cloud, developers working in sensitive industries can sleep just a little easier at night.

JetBrains, however, would know a little bit about about scrutiny over security as their software tools were once accused by the New York Times of potentially being the pathway for the infamous SolarWinds hack of 2021. More recently, Reuters reported in December 2023 that the NSA, FBI, and CISA said in a statement that hackers were trying to attack the JetBrains servers to gain access to source code.

JetBrains was investigated but never found to be guilty of any wrong doing and if nothing else, have worked to patch vulnerabilities and with their new local AI models tried to put to rest any concerns over their ability to keep data safe.