Update on "Co-authored-by: Copilot" in commit messages

(github.com)

45 points | by extesy 1 hour ago

11 comments

  • arcfour 1 minute ago
    I'm not sure that anyone wants the scarlet letter of an AI coauthor on their code just because they used something simple like next edit suggestions or AI autocomplete.

    (Funnily enough, I always commit through the command line in VS code anyways...not sure why. But I guess I would have avoided this annoyance, so that's a plus!)

  • cube00 2 minutes ago
    2 days ago:

    > We did catch it internally in testing [1]

    Today:

    > There was a bug in the code that was not found in testing

    [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47994193

  • Waterluvian 52 minutes ago
    All the people there asking the simple question of why it got changed and getting ignored.
    • chao- 16 minutes ago
      There ought to be decent number of people within Microsoft who have "Copilot usage" as a KPI. I don't think this was gamesmanship on their part (no sarcasm, I truly do not suspect malice), but I'm sure if it could have slipped in without backlash, they would have enjoyed seeing their line go up.
    • xigoi 36 minutes ago
      We all know the answer anyway.
  • est 1 hour ago
    I am using a different approach.

    `user.email` is always my email.

    `user.name` is either my account name, or model name like `gpt-5.5-high`.

    I can easily filter & blame which line was written by me or some specific AI

  • jwilliams 22 minutes ago
    Are they apologizing? Was it a bug? Why did they make this decision and what's the end goal? It's so unclear from the message - as evidenced by a lot of the responses.
    • zaptrem 19 minutes ago
      Seems pretty clear, Claude and Codex were getting a lot of free publicity by instructing their models to do the same and MS wanted similar results. However, a bug caused this to be applied to all commits instead of all Copilot-influenced commits.
    • utopiah 8 minutes ago
      They did say it's a bug that they even caught during testing yet somehow let go through. Author of the issue mentioned this on HN https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47994193
  • m3kw9 32 minutes ago
    Default to ON is a complete dik move
    • utopiah 7 minutes ago
      It's not even default to ON, it's default to ALL (or at least to a lot), even non co-pilot commits, that's what made people made. If it was at least correct maybe it would have gone unnoticed.
  • peyton 59 minutes ago
    Inserting authorship claims is incredibly tacky. It’s today’s “Intel Inside” sticker. I don’t want your stickers on the computer I bought.

    “Sent from my iPhone” isn’t an authorship claim.

    • AuthAuth 33 minutes ago
      Sent from my iPhone is worse than intel inside or claude in the commits in my opinion.

      There is something so gross about injecting an advertising message into every single communication a user has on their device.

      • robin_reala 2 minutes ago
        At least “Sent from my iPhone” was a factual claim, unlike this mess.
    • kelseydh 55 minutes ago
      On the flip side there are people who believe that LLM-assisted coding changes require attribution in git history.
      • silverwind 25 minutes ago
        It's definitely helpful to know whether a PR was AI-assisted or not and the git attribution line is a simple and effective way of communicating that.

        I also recommend specifying model name and version so the maintainer knows upfront the level of slop they are dealing with.

    • dyauspitr 53 minutes ago
      What’s the problem with intel inside? That’s perfectly normal.
      • reaperducer 44 minutes ago
        What’s the problem with intel inside? That’s perfectly normal.

        I don't want my computer to look like it's racing in NASCAR.

  • shimman 58 minutes ago
    Honestly extremely pathetic by a trillion dollar corporation that has a massive, undemocratic, say in how technology is developed in this country.

    Microsoft should be broken up into a dozen different companies and it's quite clear they violated their consent decree from the US DOJ a few decades later, so they should get punished extra hard. Maybe nationalize Excel putting it in the public domain for starters.

    • dyauspitr 51 minutes ago
      Yeah break up all the big companies so Chinese state sponsored behemoths can take over everything. This isn’t the 90s where Americans only competed with other Americans.
      • alehlopeh 48 minutes ago
        GP didn’t say all the big tech companies. Just Microslop.
      • Waterluvian 44 minutes ago
        Honestly not sure I find that prospect worse than the American status quo. At least the Chinese regime is a rational actor.
      • scuff3d 15 minutes ago
        So you're saying the market is weaker with more competition?
      • starfallg 47 minutes ago
        Nope, just break up the one that has been consistently found to be abusing their market position. Microsoft has been embroiled in this since the 90s.
  • jdw64 1 hour ago
    [dead]
  • gowld 32 minutes ago
    [flagged]