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GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

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Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#61

Post by machine_ghost »

gokhan wrote: post #49
threatofrain wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we actually could get to a world where programmers can be replaced, we'll also likely find that vast swathes of the population will be replaced. Then we'll need a totally new conversation on how society should look. That conversation is coming no matter what, because there will not be a global consensus to stop ML development, esp. on the war front.

As a programmer, I think it's easier to replace programmers than many other occupations. We work with generic DSLs called programming languages, which can be easily handled by AI. Most of what we produce can be easily parsed by an AI. We work in small, incremental tasks which is perfect for AI. Most of us use the same set of tools. What else? UI is similar everywhere, especially in LoB apps. What we produce is repeti…

In the long run, yes, but if programming were so rote and simple, we all wouldn't have jobs in the first place.

Look, technology has always replaced jobs, throughout history (how many of you know professional lamp lighters, elevator doormen, or switchboard operators?) But the thing is, tech has always replaced the jobs that are easiest to automate ... not the "intellectual work".

I would be far more worried about being a real estate agent, food preparer, or heck, even a lawyer (for some specialties at least). I think they're all at more risk than programmers.

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#62

Post by zn44 »

lolinder wrote: post #3

They'd better get on the IntelliJ integration fast— if I'm going to switch editors in order to use an LLM coding assistant, I may as well just switch to Cursor, which has a strong head start on them on the assistant and also has a much better autocomplete. I'm honestly surprised to see no mention here of them moving to replicate Cursor's autocomplete—IMO that is where Cursor's real edge lies. Anyone can wrap a chatbo…

i've started using aider with https://aider.chat/docs/usage/watch.html works great and you can keep using jetbrains IDEs

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#63

Post by simicd »

machine_ghost wrote: post #51
diggan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does is matter in practice? Is there stuff you can do in VSCode that isn't possible in Cursor? I'm not a user of either, so honest question.

I don't know Cursor, but VS Code is a very full-featured editor with many years behind it; I rather doubt an upstart editor could achieve full feature parity with it so quickly. But that's almost beside the point: even if it had perfectly identical functionality, people would still want to use VS Code, if only for its well-established ecosystem of extensions.

Since it is a fork of VS Code you can install any VS Code extension in Cursor (although manually): https://www.cursor.com/how-to-install-extension

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#64

Post by nonethewiser »

diggan wrote: post #38

> When we introduced GitHub Copilot back in 2021, we had a clear goal: to make developers’ lives easier with an AI pair programmer that helps them write better code. The name reflects our belief that artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t replacing the developer. Later: > GitHub Copilot’s new agent mode is capable of iterating on its own code, recognizing errors, and fixing them automatically. Is this Microsoft/GitHub ac…

I dont think making Copilot better by handling its bad ouput means replacing developers. And GitHub certainly isn’t saying the goal is to replace developers.

I accept that is how you are interpreting it and I can see the argument. But Github isnt trying to get one over in their messaging.

And besides I just dont agree with the idea that it takes the developer out of the loop. Whose controlling this better version of Copilot? Whose goals is it advancing? The developer.

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#66

Post by ericmcer »

gokhan wrote: post #49
threatofrain wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we actually could get to a world where programmers can be replaced, we'll also likely find that vast swathes of the population will be replaced. Then we'll need a totally new conversation on how society should look. That conversation is coming no matter what, because there will not be a global consensus to stop ML development, esp. on the war front.

As a programmer, I think it's easier to replace programmers than many other occupations. We work with generic DSLs called programming languages, which can be easily handled by AI. Most of what we produce can be easily parsed by an AI. We work in small, incremental tasks which is perfect for AI. Most of us use the same set of tools. What else? UI is similar everywhere, especially in LoB apps. What we produce is repeti…

Doing the small incremental tasks is the easiest part of programming. All the complexity lies in taking giant specs and breaking it into manageable goals and then small tasks. AI is still pretty far from doing that, but I agree, I would not want to be a teenager right now and face the prospect of entering the workforce after 10 years more of progress.

Unless work is a thing of the past by then, and we were the last generation of suckers who lived under the reality where 40hrs/week was just the way life is.

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#67

Post by tomduncalf »

machine_ghost wrote: post #51
diggan wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does is matter in practice? Is there stuff you can do in VSCode that isn't possible in Cursor? I'm not a user of either, so honest question.

I don't know Cursor, but VS Code is a very full-featured editor with many years behind it; I rather doubt an upstart editor could achieve full feature parity with it so quickly. But that's almost beside the point: even if it had perfectly identical functionality, people would still want to use VS Code, if only for its well-established ecosystem of extensions.

Cursor is a fork of VS Code so most of the UI is identical and it can use the majority of extensions. Some extensions are MS only though and they may start using this as a moat, who knows!

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#69

Post by diggan »

nonethewiser wrote: post #64
diggan wrote: post #38

> When we introduced GitHub Copilot back in 2021, we had a clear goal: to make developers’ lives easier with an AI pair programmer that helps them write better code. The name reflects our belief that artificial intelligence (AI) isn’t replacing the developer. Later: > GitHub Copilot’s new agent mode is capable of iterating on its own code, recognizing errors, and fixing them automatically. Is this Microsoft/GitHub ac…

I dont think making Copilot better by handling its bad ouput means replacing developers. And GitHub certainly isn’t saying the goal is to replace developers. I accept that is how you are interpreting it and I can see the argument. But Github isnt trying to get one over in their messaging. And besides I just dont agree with the idea that it takes the developer out of the loop. Whose controlling this better version of…

> I dont think making Copilot better by handling its bad ouput means replacing developers

The blog post goes through more than what I mentioned in my comment. For example:

> When the product we are building under the codename Project Padawan ships later this year, it will allow you to directly assign issues to GitHub Copilot, using any of the GitHub clients, and have it produce fully tested pull requests. Once a task is finished, Copilot will assign human reviewers to the PR, and work to resolve feedback they add.

How is that not trying to replace at least a small section of junior/boilerplate developers?

The developer might be the one who listens to the product team, maybe even creates the issue and finally reviews the code before it gets merged. But I'm having a hard time imagining the flow above as "Pair programming" or a developer working with a "co-pilot", as they're trying to say it's all about.

Re: GitHub Copilot: The Agent Awakens

#70

Post by spiritplumber »

ai-christianson wrote: post #14

Very cool! I'm working on a similar agent, but FOSS ( https://github.com/ai-christianson/RA.Aid ) --It'll be really interesting to see how the GitHub agent works. On first impressions, it looks like they are taking the route of integrating tightly with VSCode, which means they'll be competing with Cline, Cursor, and Windsurf. IMO it might be good for them to release this on the web, similar to the replit agent. Integ…

Very neat!
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