Microsoft and OpenAI: Сollaboration that will make life easier for programmers

a framework for pair programming with artificial intelligence. Microsoft says the system, available now for preview as an extension to Visual Studio Code, is designed to help programmers write code faster and with less effort. Copilot works in conjunction with OpenAI Codex, a new artificial intelligence framework. Microsoft and OpenAI have collaborated on a number of projects over the years, most recently Codepilot. This project has all chances to turn the world upside down and become a new innovation, after which life will never be the same again. As this development will make the work of programmers easier and definitely speed it up.

A GitHub representative about GitHub Copilot said

"If the technical preview is successful, we plan to create a commercial version of Copilot on GitHub in the future. With this preview, we want to see how people use GitHub Copilot and what needs to be done to make it work at scale," a GitHub spokesperson explained on Wednesday. Copilot will work with a variety of frameworks and languages, but primarily Python, JavaScript, TypeScript, Ruby and Go.

It can understand both programming languages and human speech by examining billions of lines of open source code, including code in public GitHub repositories, and natural language. The Copilot Editor extension sends comments and code to the Copilot service. This service uses OpenAI code to synthesize and recommend individual lines of code and entire functions (as described in Microsoft's FAQ).

Copilot is intended to generate the best possible code, but Microsoft warns that it does not test recommended code and may recommend deprecated or irrelevant libraries and languages.

Self-learning tool

Copilot tends to improve over time, but Microsoft recommends that developers break code into smaller functions, use meaningful names for function parameters, and write good documentation and comments sections. Microsoft also adds that Copilot "seems to work best when learning unfamiliar libraries or frameworks." The self-learning capability is clearly a great and very usable feature that will definitely be a huge plus.

Complement, not replace

Microsoft notes that developers are always in charge when using Copilot, as it is meant to complement, not replace, developers. Using Copilot, developers can view alternative suggestions, choose which ones to accept or reject, and manually modify the recommended code. Microsoft says the system will adapt to users' coding style over time.

Two years ago, Microsoft invested 1 billion dollars in OpenAI in exchange for a commitment to use Azure and develop new super AI technologies with Microsoft on Azure. Earlier this year, Microsoft announced plans to integrate OpenAI's GPT-3 AI model with PowerFx, Microsoft's low-level coding language, to encourage coding in plain English.

Technology doesn't stand still and every year we are delighted with more and more new developments to simplify and improve efficiency in coding. Not a small important factor in this development of Microsoft and OpenAI is the desire not to replace people, but to supplement, help and improve the work of specialists. The developers' aspiration for constant improvement does not leave indifferent and we can only wait and watch the process of improving this development. Despite all the difficulties and possible inaccuracies in the work Microsoft and OpenAI are actively engaged in eliminating all the problems and by the time of mass launch.