GitHub has introduced an enterprise tier for its AI-powered coding assistant, Copilot, an offering poised to deliver personalized code suggestions within organizations. Set for release in February 2024, the new subscription model aims to cater to the specific needs of enterprise codebases and internal workflows.
The subscription, at $39 per month, is a step up from the current business plan and is designed to integrate tightly with a company's private code. This enhancement promises to help developers with code suggestions, reviews, and documentation that are tailored to their proprietary data and practices. GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke emphasized the potential of Copilot Enterprise to help development teams “write code faster” and to “deploy applications, features, or updates” more efficiently than competitors.
Integration with GitHub's Ecosystem
Copilot Enterprise also extends its capabilities beyond the local integrated development environment (IDE) to GitHub's cloud services. The functionality includes generating summaries and suggestions directly on GitHub.com repositories, further aiding developers in understanding and navigating their projects.
During the preliminary phase of this feature, semiconductor company AMD reported that Copilot's customization enabled its engineers to receive AI suggestions for hardware design languages like Verilog, marking an advancement from the standard Copilot service. Alex Androncik, AMD's senior director of software development, noted the model's accuracy and quality in tuning to their specific product design style.
In addition to these new offerings, GitHub teased upcoming capabilities for its mobile app and the extension of Copilot Chat to JetBrains' suite of IDEs, in response to community feedback.
Partnerships and Future Developments
GitHub also announced the Copilot Partner Program, seeking to deepen its engagement with the developer community. The initiative invites third-party developers to create plugins, expanding Copilot's potential applications. A starting lineup of 25 partner companies has been revealed, and the program is now seeking early-access participants.
Looking ahead, GitHub previewed Copilot Workspace, planned for a 2024 launch. This feature aims to serve as a “natural language bridge” for developers to rapidly transform ideas into functional code. Copilot Workspace offers developers automated plans to execute code changes, enhancing their ability to collaborate with AI during the development process.
On the security front, GitHub continues to enhance its offering with automated detection tools, now including an AI-powered “autofix” feature to accelerate vulnerability remediation for developers. This function broadens GitHub's commitment to security features introduced in 2020, further establishing confidence in secure coding practices for its user base. As Asha Chakrabarty, GitHub's VP of product management, states, developers can swiftly resolve security issues “while they code,” signifying an innovative stride in efficient and secure software development.
GitHub Copilot is Now a Profit-Making Feature
Also today, GitHub revealed that Copilot is graduating from experimental to become a real financial asset for the company. The AI assistant, which started as a trial, has made positive profits, according to Dohmke, showing that advanced generative AI technologies can be commercially successful despite their high computing needs.
A joint project between Microsoft and OpenAI that uses GPT-4 to generate code suggestions based on users' inputs. GitHub Copilot is powered by OpenAI Codex, a generative pre-trained language model created by OpenAI. Earlier this year, GitHub showed its future vision with GitHub Copilot X, which integrates with OpenAI's GPT-4.
