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Relevant to AI safety discussions around human-agency and automation dependence, as Copilot's mainstream release represents a landmark moment in AI-assisted labor and raises questions about skill atrophy and over-reliance on AI systems.

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Importance: 42/100blog postnews

Summary

GitHub announces the general availability of Copilot, an AI-powered coding assistant, and shares survey data indicating that developers using Copilot report completing tasks faster and with less mental effort. The announcement highlights growing developer reliance on AI-generated code suggestions and raises implicit questions about automation dependence in software development.

Key Points

  • GitHub Copilot is now generally available to all developers, moving out of technical preview after over a year of testing.
  • Developer surveys indicate ~88% of users feel more productive and report completing repetitive tasks faster with AI assistance.
  • Raises concerns about developer dependence on AI-generated code and potential erosion of fundamental coding skills.
  • Copilot is powered by OpenAI Codex and trained on publicly available code, sparking ongoing debates about licensing and data provenance.
  • Marks a significant milestone in mainstream deployment of generative AI tools in professional workflows.

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[Thomas Dohmke](https://github.blog/author/ashtom/ "Posts by Thomas Dohmke")· [@ashtom](https://github.com/ashtom)

June 21, 2022 \|
Updated May 21, 2024

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At GitHub, it’s part of our mission to build technology that makes developers happy. Since the launch of GitHub Copilot technical preview last year, it’s become abundantly clear that AI is one of the best tools to empower the next generation of developers.

Already, AI is acting as a copilot in our daily lives. It’s helping us write emails and essays, automatically generate photo albums of our loved ones, and even acts as a digital assistant to help us order groceries. But until now, AI has stopped short of improving code, leaving the process of developing software almost completely manual.

That’s changing now. Today, I am thrilled to announce that we are making [GitHub Copilot](http://copilot.github.com/) generally available to individual developers. Your AI pair programmer is here.

With GitHub Copilot, for the first time in the history of software, AI can be broadly harnessed by developers to write and complete code. Just like the rise of compilers and open source, we believe AI-assisted coding will fundamentally change the nature of software development, giving developers a new tool to write code easier and faster so they can be happier in their lives.

> **Do you want to start using GitHub Copilot today?** [Get started with a free trial](https://github.com/features/copilot), and check out our pricing plans. It’s free to use for verified students and maintainers of popular open source software.

## [The wait is over](https://github.blog/news-insights/product-news/github-copilot-is-generally-available-to-all-developers/\#the-wait-is-over)

We specifically designed GitHub Copilot as an editor extension to make sure nothing gets in the way of what you’re doing. GitHub Copilot distills the collective knowledge of the world’s developers into an editor extension that suggests code in real time, to help you stay focused on what matters most: building great software.

When you type code or comments, GitHub Copilot suggests the next line of code. But it’s not only a single word or line of code. GitHub Copilot can suggest complete methods, 

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