GitHub’s new AI tool can give suggestions to help write better code

GitHub has previewed a new artificial intelligence tool that can give suggestions to people while coding and help them write better code with less work. “It helps you quickly discover alternative ways to solve problems, write tests, and explore new APIs without having to tediously tailor a search for answers on the internet,” GitHub CEO Nat Friedman said in a blog post. “As you type, it adapts to the way you write code—to help you complete your work faster.” As the name Copilot indicates, the tool is designed to work with a programmer and not independently, and can be used when working in a new language or framework, or while learning to code. The Copilot editor extension sends comments and code to the GitHub Copilot service, which then uses OpenAI Codex to synthesise and offer suggestions to the user, the company explained.