GitHub Copilot X will tap ChatGPT-4

Future version of GitHub’s AI-powered programming assistant, now in limited preview, will add a chat interface and extend to pull requests, docs, and the command line.

Editor at Large, InfoWorld |

Hands type on a laptop keyboard with lines of code visible on the display. — SeventyFour / Shutterstock

GitHub Copilot, GitHub’s AI-driven programmer’s assistant, is set to add chat and voice capabilities, as the tool adopts OpenAI’s ChatGPT-4 deep learning technology.

GitHub is calling its vision for the tool GitHub Copilot X, the company announced on March 22. The plan includes bringing Copilot to pull requests, the command line, and docs to answer questions about projects. Highlights of GitHub Copilot X include:

A ChatGPT-like experience in the editor with Copilot Chat, a chat interface focused on developer scenarios and natively integrating with Microsoft’s Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio development tools. Copilot Chat recognizes what code a developer as typed and error messages shown. Developers are provided in-depth analysis and explanations of code blocks, can generate unit tests, and get proposed bug fixes. Developers can sign up for the waitlist for Copilot chat
Copilot for Pull Requests, adding support for AI-powered tags in pull request descriptions. Tags are automatically filled out by Copilot based on changed code. Developers can review or modify the suggested description. A technical preview signup is available.
Copilot for Docs, an experimental tool being launched that uses a chat interface to provide AI-generated responses to questions about documentation, including questions about languages, frameworks, and other technologies. The initial documentation will cover React, Azure Docs, and MDN. A waitlist is available for this capability.
Copilot for the CLI, which can compose commands and loops and throw around obscure find flags to satisfy a query. A waitlist is available for this.

Also on the agenda is a feature where GitHub automatically will warn developers if they are missing sufficient testing for a pull request and then suggest potential tests. GitHub hopes to bring its new functionality to any organization’s repositories and internal documentation.

Developers can sign up for a free trial of Copilot. GitHub said Copilot is now generating 46% of developers’ code and helping developers code 55% faster. But the tool has ruffled some feathers, with the Free Software Foundation questioning the fairness of its use of third-party code.

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Paul Krill is an editor at large at InfoWorld, whose coverage focuses on application development.