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GitHub Copilot is generally available

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Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#631

Post by notpushkin »

varenc wrote: post #617
omoikane wrote: post #615

Earlier quoted context omitted.

An example of how much copied code is worth: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_LLC_v._Oracle_America,_... For this content: a nine-line rangeCheck function, several test files, the structure, sequence and organization (SSO) of the Java (API), and the API documentation. The cost was: "statutory damages up to a maximum of US$150,000".

I don’t believe the nine lines of code was the relevant part leading to damages. It was the fact that Google copied this entire API design (SSO) for Java. I don’t think GPT-3 is in danger of doing that.

Also don't forget that the Supreme Court has ruled that APIs aren't copyrightable after all (or at least fall within fair use).

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#633

Post by Aeolun »

culi wrote: post #587
uluyol wrote: post #577

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microsoft could simply crawl archives of code wherever they exist, and use that to build copilot. GitHub hosting open source communities is a way of giving back.

Microsoft gives free copies of Office to schools. Why do you think it does that? MS benefits from people being locked into its service and suite. It provides premium subscriptions for additional features. Hosting code "for free" is part of its business model. It's not a way of "giving back"

> It's not a way of "giving back"

Github Advanced Security costs me $200+/month, but if I make my repository public, I get all of that for free.

Certainly feels like a way of giving back.

Of course it benefits them too, but it doesn’t have to be purely altruistic to be a net positive.

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#635

Post by eurasiantiger »

notpushkin wrote: post #631
varenc wrote: post #617

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t believe the nine lines of code was the relevant part leading to damages. It was the fact that Google copied this entire API design (SSO) for Java. I don’t think GPT-3 is in danger of doing that.

Also don't forget that the Supreme Court has ruled that APIs aren't copyrightable after all (or at least fall within fair use).

Now I understand why US IT consulting corporations have expanded into multinationals

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#636

Post by andai »

jerf wrote: post #226
Hamcha wrote: post #195

I've been using Copilot non-stop on every hobby project I have ever since they've let me in (2021/07/13) and I am honestly flabbergasted they think it's worth 10$/mo. My experience using it till this day is the following: - It's an amazing all-rounder autocomplete for most boilerplate code. Generally anything that someone who's spent 5 minutes reading the code can do, Copilot can do just as well. - It's terrible if y…

"how to put a sentence together describing the rules, it absolutely doesn't actually understand how "Chii" melds work" The more experience I get with GPT-3 type technologies, the more I would never let them near my code. It wasn't an intent of the technology per se, but it has proved to be very good at producing superficially appealing output that can stand up not only to a quick scan, but to a moderately deep readin…

I ran into the same problem of "sounds true" when testing the limits of GPT-3 as a general purpose "knowledge engine", used to answer questions about the real world. Either it doesn't understand the difference between truth and fiction, or it doesn't care. The output is 95% truthful and 5% outright fabrication. Even worse, it writes better than most humans, so the fabrications often come out sounding extremely convincing.

I once had it generate an entire interview with an author, which was so realistic I was sure it had encountered it verbatim in the training data. The interview was about one of his books. Turns out such a book didn't even exist, but GPT-3 knew real facts like the name his publisher, the names of employees there etc. and wove them into the story.

The best use I've found for GPT-3 is text summarization, it seems to do very well on that front. I think OpenAI are working on a hyperlinked interface that lets you jump to the original source for each fact in the summary.

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#637

Post by eurasiantiger »

omginternets wrote: post #320
jerf wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"how to put a sentence together describing the rules, it absolutely doesn't actually understand how "Chii" melds work" The more experience I get with GPT-3 type technologies, the more I would never let them near my code. It wasn't an intent of the technology per se, but it has proved to be very good at producing superficially appealing output that can stand up not only to a quick scan, but to a moderately deep readin…

I wholeheartedly agree with your analysis, but feel like it’s ignoring the elephant in the room: writing code is not the bottleneck in need of optimization. Conceiving the solution is. Any time “saved” through Copilot and it’s ilk is immediately nullified by having to check it’s correctness. From there, the problem is worsened by the Frankensteinesque stitching together of disparate parts that you describe. I can’t i…

You haven’t tried Copilot, have you?

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#638

Post by ximm »

Honest question here: I understand that Copilot can increase productivity. But I personally fear that it would cover the fun parts of programming and leave me with the boring bits. What is your experience around that?

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#639

Post by eurasiantiger »

theshrike79 wrote: post #415
jmkni wrote: post #306

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I've been using Copilot non-stop > I am honestly flabbergasted they think it's worth 10$/mo These two statments seem contradictory to me. Why are you using it 'non-stop' if it isn't even worth $10/month?

I've had Copilot enabled since early beta. I think it has saved me ... 15 minutes of typing in total? A few times it has caught on to a repeating pattern and filled a tedious bit of [({}{})] -style javascript correctly. Most of the things it does for me I could replace with a library of snippets if I could be bothered to set one up. Not really worth a monthly cost equivalent to, say, Disney+ - which I use tens of hou…

You probably write code in a way that’s hard for the AI to predict. Write stubs, name things first, wire things early, and watch the fireworks.

Re: GitHub Copilot is generally available

#640

Post by eurasiantiger »

rexreed wrote: post #233
Hamcha wrote: post #195

I've been using Copilot non-stop on every hobby project I have ever since they've let me in (2021/07/13) and I am honestly flabbergasted they think it's worth 10$/mo. My experience using it till this day is the following: - It's an amazing all-rounder autocomplete for most boilerplate code. Generally anything that someone who's spent 5 minutes reading the code can do, Copilot can do just as well. - It's terrible if y…

Of course GPT-3 doesn't "understand" what you are doing. All it's doing is generating high probability text based on a huge training corpus. It's guessing what text will come next. That doesn't mean it understands jack squat. It's basically a parrot with a huge database. Polly want a program?

That is also how your brain works.
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