What is GitHub Copilot X
Generative A.I. is taking on coding.
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Microsoft now refers to nearly everything Generative A.I. as being a “copilot.” But that used to be a term reserved for GitHub Copilot, which is supposedly boosting productivity of coders, though likely in late 2022 along with ChatGPT.
GitHub Copilot X is their vision for the future of AI-powered software development. Integrated into every part of your workflow.
So now for software engineers, GitHub says it’s using OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 model to go way beyond auto-completing comments and code. What does that even mean?
As a pioneer in the use of generative AI for code completion, GitHub is not the only one. There is Tabnine and Google’s PaLM based solution that will likely be announced later at their I/O event this Spring or Summer.
Still this is a very reasonable price for enterprise subscriptions where OpenAI’s Codex model, currently writes 46% of the code on the platform and has helped developers code up to 55% faster. By auto-completing comments and code, Copilot serves as an AI pair programmer that keeps developers focused and productive.
GitHub has been one of the more productive acquisitions by Microsoft. Though Nuance the health-tech acquisition is also being upgraded with GPT-4. Microsoft-owned Nuance Communications unveiled its latest voice-enabled medical scribe application integrated with OpenAI's GPT-4.
Nuance says the new application, Dragon Ambient eXperience (DAX) Express, is the first fully automated clinical documentation application to combine conversational and ambient AI with the advanced reasoning and natural language capabilities of OpenAI’s GPT-4.
So Microsoft’s future in using Generative A.I. in coding, low-code automation and game development seems really bright to me. This is of course only available to paying customers. The rollout of Copilot X from my understanding, includes features and set changes in Copilot for Business and Copilot for Individuals subscription offerings.
In essence it seems like GitHub Copilot for Business is getting a bit of a Chat-GPT like upgrade.
Basically, introducing chat and voice for Copilot, and bringing Copilot to pull requests, the command line, and docs to answer questions on your projects.
Launching in preview today, Copilot Chat will be available in Visual Studio and VS Code, with support for other IDEs coming later.
Microsoft has an off-chance of making a mobile gaming app store that could impact Android and Apple in a material way. This means upgrading coders and game developers with Generative A.I. is just a massive play for the future of innovation in Microsoft’s gaming and no-code empire.
Microsoft is already the one true rule of software subscriptions, notably with acquisitions like LinkedIn, GitHub and so many others. Meanwhile GitHub’s own R&D team at GitHub Next has been working to move past the editor and evolve GitHub Copilot into a readily accessible AI assistant throughout the entire development lifecycle. Microsoft’s sprawling software partnership ecosystem and Cloud dominance just gives them an unfair advantage at nearly every turn.
Now that they are getting more into Search and Advertising it’s bad news for the rest of BigTech. It makes the $14 Billion investment in OpenAI seem rather worth it when taken from the big picture perspective. It boosts diversification and enables them to do things they wouldn’t have been able to do otherwise a few months before their key rivals.
As exciting as Adobe Firefly is, Github Copilot is the real “copilot”. Microsoft’s Generative A.I. success may not improve Bing substantially, but for coders ChatGPT and GitHub Copilot X for Business is already a substantial upgrade for roughly $50 a month.
And obviously, Copilot Chat will focus solely on programming questions. As for Microsoft’s unchecked monopolistic assault on gaming, Microsoft could launch a new app store for games as early as next year if regulators approve the company’s $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard. The thing is I expect Generative A.I. to have the most impact on game development over time, of all things.
Microsoft’s copilot for 365 apps and its no-code and automation (RPA-like) efforts is really considerable. There’s so much going on with their GPT-4 upgrades, it’s so much bigger than BingAI. In this sense, Microsoft and Apple have diversification of revenue that Amazon, Google and others just don’t have.
The AI-Human Coding Duo
For a programmer and software engineer, chatting with A.I. while programming with some level of auto-complete will just be the new normal. GitHub Copilot can sit at the side of your integrated development environment (IDE), ready to accept commands.
In theory for new programming students they will be learning a different trick of the trade, since it is claimed autocomplete already allows developers to greatly improve their productivity, while supposedly this new Copilot will 10x developer productivity. I cannot verify such statements, but it’s an intriguing idea.
If software is augmented with A.I., what’s next?