GitHub launches ‘Copilot Enterprise’, an AI coding assistant for businesses

GitHub, a leading platform for open source software development, introduced today a new product aimed at helping large enterprises harness the power of artificial intelligence in their coding projects.

The product, called GitHub Copilot Enterprise, is an AI assistant that can generate code suggestions, answer queries, and summarize changes based on the organization’s own codebase and standards. Experts say the new offering signals a seismic shift in how software engineering teams will operate in the near future, essentially putting an AI programmer at every developer’s side. 

“We’re moving away from a digital transformation to an AI transformation for a lot of these enterprise companies,” said Mario Rodriguez, GitHub’s VP of Product, in an interview with VentureBeat. “It might even become a productivity polarity between those who use it and those who don’t.”

Integrates GitHub AI throughout software lifecycle

Rodriguez explained that Copilot Enterprise goes far beyond GitHub’s free Copilot tool by integrating throughout the software development lifecycle.

It provides customized code suggestions based on an organization’s own codebase, answers questions about internal systems in plain English, and generates summaries of code changes — saving developers hours of manual work.

Copilot Enterprise also incorporates company best practices and documentation through “knowledge bases,” enabling it to guide developers towards standard approaches. 

“Now, team members can break down silos and share collective knowledge,” Rodriguez said. “Copilot Enterprise will enforce the best practices of the organization and enterprise.”

The launch of Copilot Enterprise comes just one year after GitHub crossed 100 million users, establishing itself as an industry standard for software collaboration.

Early testing by partners like Accenture have found massive productivity gains from AI coding tools like Copilot Enterprise.

“With just autocomplete, they’re seeing in their 50,000 developers a 50% increase in builds,” Rodriguez said. “Now imagine infusing every part of that software lifecycle with Copilot — that’s why we think we’re moving from the digital transformation to the AI transformation.”

GitHub investing heavily in responsible AI practices

However, GitHub also faces skepticism that AI-generated code lacks originality or even introduces new bugs. 

Rodriguez strongly rejected this critique. “We believe the creativity of humans will continue to accelerate,” he said. “Copilot is a tool where the human is at the center. My hope is that human utilizing this tool will enhance creativity and continue to push society forward.”

GitHub plans significant investments in responsible AI practices to ensure Copilot Enterprise augments developers without unwanted side effects. 

“We don’t want to take humanity backwards, but really advance it forward,” Rodriguez emphasized.