Copilot Workspace is GitHub’s take on AI-powered software engineering

GitHub is exploring the concept of an AI-powered Integrated Development Environment (IDE), with the introduction of Copilot Workspace ahead of its GitHub Universe conference. Copilot Workspace leverages “Copilot-powered agents” to aid developers throughout the software development lifecycle, from brainstorming and planning to coding, testing, and deployment, all through natural language interactions.

Jonathan Carter, head of GitHub Next, describes Workspace as an evolution of GitHub’s AI-powered coding assistant Copilot, expanding its capabilities beyond code generation. Features like Copilot Chat, allowing developers to ask questions about code in natural language, serve as precursors to this broader toolset.

Carter explains that the impetus behind Workspace stemmed from the recognition that developers often encounter friction when starting a new task, particularly in understanding how to approach coding problems and navigating through multiple solutions and their trade-offs. By providing an AI assistant that assists developers at the outset of a task, GitHub aims to lower the activation energy required to begin and facilitate collaboration throughout the development process.

While Copilot has garnered significant adoption, with over 1.8 million individual paying users and 50,000 enterprise customers, GitHub envisions broader appeal with expansions like Workspace, targeting a larger user base attracted by its comprehensive features.

Carter emphasizes GitHub’s aim to empower developers through an ongoing “thought partnership” with AI, recognizing the substantial time developers dedicate to coding tasks. Copilot Workspace is positioned as a companion experience and development environment designed to complement existing tools and workflows, simplifying a range of developer tasks. GitHub sees potential in an AI-native developer environment that transcends conventional workflows, offering unique value propositions.

There’s internal pressure for Copilot to become profitable, given that it reportedly incurs losses of around $20 per user per month, with some users costing GitHub up to $80 per month. Moreover, the landscape is becoming increasingly competitive, with rival services such as Amazon’s CodeWhisperer, along with emerging startups like Magic, Tabnine, Codegen, and Laredo.

Workspace, powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 Turbo model, leverages a repository’s data to formulate a plan for addressing bugs or implementing new features. By analyzing comments, issue replies, and the broader codebase, Workspace provides suggested code solutions along with validation and testing instructions. Developers have the flexibility to modify, save, refactor, or undo the suggested code, empowering them to streamline their workflow and enhance productivity.

Image Credits: GitHub

The suggested code can be executed directly within Workspace and easily shared among team members via an external link. Team members accessing Workspace have the flexibility to refine and customize the code according to their preferences and requirements.

A convenient method to initiate Workspace is by utilizing the “Open in Workspace” button located adjacent to issues and pull requests within GitHub repositories. Clicking on this button prompts users to describe the software engineering task in natural language, such as “Add documentation for the changes in this pull request.” Upon submission, the task is added to a list of “sessions” within the dedicated Workspace view, facilitating seamless collaboration and task management.

Image Credits: GitHub

Workspace streamlines requests by systematically executing them step by step, beginning with creating a specification, followed by generating a plan, and ultimately implementing that plan. Developers have the flexibility to delve into any of these steps to gain a detailed understanding of the suggested code and changes. They can also delete, re-run, or re-order the steps as needed, providing full control over the development process.

Carter highlights the common challenge developers face when starting a new project—knowing where to begin. Copilot Workspace addresses this issue by alleviating the burden and offering developers a structured plan to commence iteration from, ultimately enhancing productivity and facilitating smoother project initiation.

Image Credits: GitHub

Workspace will enter technical preview on Monday, optimized for a variety of devices, including mobile platforms. However, as it’s in preview, it’s essential to note that Workspace isn’t covered by GitHub’s IP indemnification policy, which typically assists customers facing third-party claims related to potential IP infringement resulting from AI-generated code usage. Given that generative AI models, including GPT-4 Turbo, can inadvertently reproduce elements from their training datasets, some of which may be copyrighted, this omission is noteworthy.

GitHub has yet to finalize its approach to productizing Workspace but plans to leverage the preview period to gain insights into its value proposition and usage patterns among developers.

However, the critical question remains: Will Workspace address the fundamental issues surrounding Copilot and other AI-powered coding tools? An analysis conducted by GitClear, examining over 150 million lines of code committed to project repositories in recent years, revealed concerning trends associated with Copilot. Specifically, it found that Copilot was contributing to an increase in erroneous code being introduced to codebases, as well as a rise in code duplication rather than genuine reuse, posing challenges for code maintainers.

Furthermore, security researchers have cautioned that tools like Copilot could exacerbate existing bugs and security vulnerabilities in software projects. Research conducted by Stanford scholars indicated that developers who accept suggestions from AI-powered coding assistants are prone to producing less secure code. GitHub has emphasized its efforts to mitigate such risks by employing an AI-based vulnerability prevention system to identify and block insecure code. Additionally, an optional code duplication filter is available to detect instances of code regurgitation from publicly available sources.

Despite the challenges associated with AI-generated code, developers continue to embrace AI tools in their development workflows. According to a StackOverflow poll conducted in June 2023, 44% of developers reported using AI tools currently, with an additional 26% planning to adopt them in the near future. Moreover, Gartner predicts that by 2028, 75% of enterprise software engineers will leverage AI code assistants.

With Workspace, GitHub aims to address some of the concerns surrounding AI-generated code by emphasizing human review. By integrating human oversight into the development process, Workspace may help mitigate the issues introduced by AI-generated code. As Workspace becomes available to developers, its effectiveness in cleaning up code generated by AI will become apparent.

Jonathan Carter, head of GitHub Next, underscores the importance of combining human expertise with AI capabilities. He believes that the synergy between humans and AI yields superior outcomes compared to relying solely on one or the other. With Copilot Workspace, GitHub is betting on this combined approach to empower developers, reduce complexity, and foster creativity in software development.