Bouyed by the growing wave of software developers adopting artificial intelligence, GitHub is previewing a system called Copilot Workspace that uses natural language to help developers plan and implement projects.
The feature goes beyond the core AI pair-programming functionality of the existing GitHub Copilot technology, using OpenAI’s GPT-4 large language model and an understanding of the developer’s relevant codebase to assist in the process of turning an idea into a plan, and ultimately into functioning code.
Copilot Workspace is “there with you from the moment you open the issue, and you start thinking, ‘What is it that I’m planning on building?’ ” said Inbal Shani, GitHub’s chief product officer, in an interview in advance of the GitHub Universe conference, where the company is making a series of announcements Wednesday morning.
Among other features, Copilot Workspace will generate a proposed project plan that can be edited by software developers, who can then guide the AI in line with their ultimate goals. It will also help developers fix errors automatically and create pull requests to merge their code into an organization’s codebase.
“We’re really focusing on taking Copilot and AI across the platform, into the next level,” Shani said.
GitHub, which has been part of Microsoft since 2018, is expected to preview the tool Wednesday morning as part of GitHub Universe in San Francisco. The company says Copilot Workpace will debut sometime in 2024.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on the company’s Oct. 24 earnings call that there are more than 1 million paid users of GitHub Copilot, with more than 37,000 organizations subscribed to Copilot for Business, up 40% quarter-over-quarter. Copilot competes with Amazon CodeWhisperer, Google Cloud’s Duet AI, and independent AI coding tools.
Other announcements from the event:
- GitHub Copilot Chat will be generally available in December. This tool, currently in preview, answers questions about code in an in-line chat as part of an integrated development enviroment (IDE).
- A new Copilot Enterprise licensing tier, for $39/user per month, that allows for additional customization and personalization of the technology based on an organization’s codebases.
- The addition of new AI features to GitHub Advanced Security, desiged to detect security vunerabilities, suggest security fixes in code, among other security features.
The moves come amid a surge in AI usage among software developers, who have led the wave of generative AI adoption. About 92% of devlopers are using or experimenting with AI coding tools, the company said in its annual “State of the Octoverse” report, released in conjunction with the conference Wednesday morning.
