GitHub Copilot gets GPT-4-based chatbot to help write code

By admin On Mar 22, 2023

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GitHub adds a chatbot to Copilot, an AI feature that helps developers write code. The new chatbot will be based on OpenAI’s GPT-4 model. Users can chat with Copilot X or interact with the model via voice.

The new chatbot is part of the Copilot X “vision” that GitHub presented on Monday. That vision includes several Copilot features that will be available in the near future. GitHub will be the first to get a “ChatGPT-like” experience in developer code editors, available in technical preview starting Monday, March 22. GitHub Copilot Chat builds on what parent company Microsoft has done with OpenAI for the new Bing chatbot.

GitHub Copilot Chat is natively integrated into VS Code and Visual Studio. The model recognizes, among other things, the code that a developer has typed into the editor and what kind of error messages are displayed. Copilot can use this to analyze and explain what exactly certain pieces of code do, but also generate test units, add comments and propose bug fixes.

GitHub Copilot Chat can help debug code

GitHub will also add a voice control capability to the chat function. This allows developers to provide verbal prompts to the Copilot model. GitHub has experimented with this before. Copilot users can sign up for a waiting list for the technical preview of Copilot Chat. It is not known when the chat function will be officially available.

Under Copilot X, GitHub also comes with a Copilot feature for pull requests. The AI model can help developers fill in tags and descriptions for such requests. Tags are autocompleted by Copilot based on what code has been changed. Developers can then view and edit these customizations. Copilot is also coming to the command line interface. The feature helps developers there write commands in the terminal. Copilot may also answer questions about documentation in due course.

The Copilot X features will be available in Microsoft VS Code and Visual Studio during technical previews. Later the features will be extended to other editors. It is not known exactly when that will happen. GitHub does not yet mention concrete release dates for the new features.

GitHub Copilot can help developers run commands in the CLI