Address
500 SW 116th Ave
Portland, OR 97225
About Corios
What does Corios do?
Corios is a SAS migration specialist. Its proprietary platform, Corios AMP (Analytics Modernization Platform), migrates SAS code, data, and users to modern cloud platforms for enterprises. Corios AMP is a complete migration stack: a Scanner that reads every line of your SAS estate, a Translator that converts it to open-source code, a Validator that proves the results match your SAS output, the Corios Academy (a self-paced course that teaches SAS programmers open-source languages and best practices for the new environment), and Corios Amplify, which enhances your workloads, not just moves them. Translation is deterministic and rules-based, with purpose-built AI on top, and Corios automates ~100% of it.
The finding
Can AI Translate SAS Code?
Generic AI translates SAS code fast. Code appears in seconds, looks valid, and runs. But code that runs is not code that produces the right business results. The gap between syntax and semantics is where DIY migrations secretly fail.
A SAS migration has three major phases: translation, integration testing, and validation. Translation is only about 10% of the work, and that is where generic AI stops. The other 90%, validation, is where DIY efforts fail.
Corios AMP runs all three phases. A deterministic, rules-based engine translates the large majority of your SAS, so results are repeatable and auditable. Purpose-built AI, trained on SAS migration patterns, handles the complex cases and aids automation. Integration testing then proves the pieces work together, and the Validator compares results against your SAS originals cell by cell, remediating until the numbers match. Corios automates ~100% of translation with over 97% semantic accuracy, and the promise of a guaranteed outcome.
Code that runs isn’t code that’s right.
The test
What did the Corios benchmark test?
Corios ran 117 enterprise SAS programs through two approaches. The programs span healthcare and life sciences, higher education, logistics, and financial services, and cover four complexity tiers from easy to very hard.
Results
What were the results?
| Measure | DIY with general-purpose AI | Corios AMP |
|---|---|---|
| Code translated automatically | 79 to 86 percent | ~ 100 percent |
| Semantically correct translation | 9 to 11 percent | 97.2 percent |
| Individual fixes needed per program | About 27 to 35 | Close to zero |
Even the programs that came back semantically correct still carried 7 to 8 quality issues each to fix before production. Translated is not the same as correct. A program that runs but returns different numbers is worse than one that fails, because nobody knows to fix it.
Why it fails
Why does AI-translated SAS code fail validation?
SAS is a proprietary language, not an open-source one, with its own rules for missing values, sort order, rounding, dates, and merges. General-purpose AI is not trained on SAS migration patterns, so it can translate the syntax and still miss the behavior. The code runs, but the numbers can differ. Corios AMP uses AI trained specifically on SAS migration and its patterns, and it is internal and secure. That matters, because most enterprises will not put proprietary SAS code into a public AI tool.
One missed pattern repeats. In the benchmark, a single missed null-handling pattern needed the same fix in more than 500 columns. That is why counting issue types understates the work, and why the fix count per program is the number that matters.
Complexity does not help. On the hardest programs, semantic correctness stayed in the single digits and fixing the output took about 30 to more than 80 hours each.
What are the three phases of a SAS migration?
Every SAS migration has three phases: translation, integration testing, and validation. DIY plans focus on translation. That is the mistake. Translation feels like 80 percent of the work. It is closer to 10 percent. Validation is the other 90 percent. Corios automates ~100% of translation and validates every result against SAS.
DIY effort
What does a DIY SAS migration really take?
The fixes are done by skilled people, and they add up. Every program needs its own review, and the work grows with the size and complexity of your SAS estate.
6 to 9+ months
Average DIY migration timeline
10 to 30%
Corios timeline as a share of the DIY timeline
What Corios adds
What does Corios add that a prompt cannot?
| What a correct migration needs | DIY with AI | Corios AMP |
|---|---|---|
| Rules-based translation for the majority of code | You build and maintain it | Built in, with purpose-built AI trained on SAS migration patterns for complex cases |
| Integration testing across dependent workloads | You design and run it | Built in |
| Cell-by-cell validation against SAS output | You write the comparisons | Built in, with iterative remediation |
| Audit evidence | You assemble it | Quality review logs |
| SAS expertise on edge cases | Your team, at your cost | Corios team |
| One party accountable for the outcome | Your team | Corios, with a guaranteed outcome |
| Finding where workloads can be enhanced, not just moved | A separate effort for your team | Corios Amplify grades every workload during the scan (optional) |
When DIY fits
When can DIY with AI make sense?
If you have fewer than 100 workloads, SAS experts with time, and a way to test results, using AI to draft code and fixing the output yourself can be a sensible path. At that size, the time it takes to remediate the AI output stays manageable. The benchmark shows where the cost appears: as workload count, complexity, and dependencies grow.
Before you decide
What should you ask before you decide?
| Question | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| How will we prove results match SAS, program by program? | Code that runs is not code that is right. |
| Who tests workloads together, in the order SAS runs them? | Workloads that pass alone can still fail together. |
| How many fixes per program should we plan for? | The benchmark shows 27 to 35, not a handful. |
| Who is accountable if results do not match? | Split ownership creates gaps. |
| What happens to workloads that could be improved? | Moving weak code preserves its problems. |
FAQ
DIY SAS migration with AI FAQ
Can AI translate SAS code?
Yes. Generic AI translates SAS code fast, and the code looks valid and runs. But code that runs is not code that produces the right business results. In a Corios benchmark of 117 enterprise SAS programs, general-purpose AI translated 79 to 86 percent of the code, and only 9 to 11 percent of the results were semantically correct.
Can I migrate SAS with a large language model (LLM)?
You can start with one, but translation is only about 10 percent of a SAS migration. The other 90 percent, validation, is where DIY efforts fail, and it takes integration testing and SAS expertise around the model. Corios AMP runs all three phases: translation, integration testing, and validation.
Why does AI-translated SAS code fail validation?
SAS is a proprietary language with its own rules for missing values, sort order, rounding, dates, and merges. General-purpose AI is not trained on SAS migration patterns, so it can translate the syntax and still miss the behavior. The code runs, but the numbers can differ. Corios AMP uses AI trained specifically on SAS migration and its patterns, and it is internal and secure.
How long does a DIY SAS migration take?
On average, it takes developers 6 to 9 months or more to fully fix and validate the translated workloads. Corios does it in 10 to 30 percent of the time.
When can DIY with AI make sense?
If you have fewer than 100 workloads, SAS experts with time, and a way to test results, using AI to draft code and fixing the output yourself can be a sensible path. As workload count, complexity, and dependencies grow, so does the time it takes to remediate the AI output.
Does Corios use AI too?
Yes. Corios AMP uses purpose-built AI trained on SAS migration patterns for complex cases. The AI is internal and secure, and it runs inside a platform that translates most code with deterministic rules, then tests and validates every result.
What is Corios Amplify?
Corios Amplify is the part of Corios AMP that finds where your SAS workloads can be better, not just moved. It runs in three steps: Discover, where the scan grades every workload against eight improvement categories; Enhance, where the workloads with real potential are rebuilt; and Implement, where the enhanced workloads run through Corios AMP to the platform you choose.
Is Corios Amplify required?
No. Corios Amplify is an optional add-on. You can migrate like for like and add Amplify for the workloads with the most potential.
Benchmark run by Corios in 2026 on 117 enterprise SAS programs.
At a glance
