GitHub Copilot

Released: June 2021

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Copilot is a cloud-based automated code generation tool launched by software development community GitHub in June 2021. Initially launched as a limited access 'technical preview', it became available by subscription to developers in June 2022.

Developed in conjunction with OpenAI, Copilot was developed using OpenAI's Codex algorithm, which is based on its GPT-3 large language model and trained on publically available source code of different projects in Github repositories.

Programmers have generally welcomed GitHub Copilot, but others have pointed out that it reproduces large chunks of copyrighted code verbatim without attributing their owners, raising questions about 'fair use' and licensing and opening it to accusations of copyright abuse and 'code laundering'.

Code generation

In computing, code generation denotes software techniques or systems that generate program code which may then be used independently of the generator system in a runtime environment.

Source: Wikipedia 🔗

System 🤖

Website: GitHub Copilot 🔗
Operator: Microsoft/GitHub
Developer: Microsoft/GitHub; OpenAI
Country: USA
Sector: Technology
Purpose: Generate code
Type: Generative AI
Technique: Machine learning

Documents 📃

Reviews 🗣️

Transparency and accountability 🙈

Github Copilot has been criticised for important transparency and accountability limitations, including:

Data sources: Copilot may suggest code snippets without proper attribution to the original authors, raising concerns about intellectual property rights and potential copyright infringement.
Auditability: There is no built-in mechanism to distinguish between code written by developers and code suggested by Copilot, complicating code review processes, auditing and accountability.

Risks and harms 🛑

Github Copilot has been accused of violating copyright, compromising security, and potentially harming privacy.

It is also seen to negatively impact the education and training of programmers.

Incidents and issues 🔥

October 2022. GitHub Copilot accused of copying code from developers

Legal, regulatory 👩🏼‍⚖️

Github Copilot investigation
Joseph Saveri Law Firm. GitHub and Copilot Intellectual Property Litigation

News, commentary, analysis 🗞️

Related 🌐

Page info
Type: System
Published: July 2021
Last updated: January 2025