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VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

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Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#201

Post by awesome_dude »

vunuxodo wrote: post #80
awesome_dude wrote: post #16

I personally don't mind if an AI inserts it's "Co-Authored by" tag into commits it has worked on - it's transparency, I used its help and it should get credit for good work, or disdain for bad. But, just inserting the tag because it's being used for git commands - there's a line there.

> it should get credit for good work, or disdain for bad Hard disagree. The "credit" it gets is through the form of charging my credit card. Imagine for a moment that you are a company which hired a human developer to create your app rather than AI. In this case, the developer sold his or her right to credit by way of becoming a paid employee. All credit/rights/etc to the code become the ownership of Company, not the…

I am paid by my company to write code - does that mean I shouldn't be given credit for the work I create?

DMR, Kevin Thompson are credited with creating C and Unix, but they were paid employees of AT&T - where's the issue with them being credited for their work?

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#202

Post by TeriyakiBomb »

grg0 wrote: post #170
msla wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like how GNU Emacs is completely saturated with AI now? (That's sarcasm, in case anyone wants to pretend I'm being serious.)

Emacs is not VC-backed.

...yet.

..kidding. Obviously.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#203

Post by PyWoody »

ExoticPearTree wrote: post #167
PyWoody wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of the "carbon credit" guys I know are now all in on AI with zero sense of self awareness.

> All of the "carbon credit" guys I know are now all in on AI with zero sense of self awareness. Some people made a lot of money off of those platforms. Everything was a nice story, but once you dug just a wee bit... smoke and mirrors.

There were definitely honest people trying to make a difference but they were unfortunately _vastly_ overshadowed by grifters.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#204

Post by awesome_dude »

cess11 wrote: post #55
awesome_dude wrote: post #16

I personally don't mind if an AI inserts it's "Co-Authored by" tag into commits it has worked on - it's transparency, I used its help and it should get credit for good work, or disdain for bad. But, just inserting the tag because it's being used for git commands - there's a line there.

The LLM is just a database. Would you be fine if this was done when cribbing stuff from Github, StackOverflow, tutorials and so on, or do you think some databases are more special than others in this regard, and if so, on what merit?

I regularly link comments in my code pointing to the source of the code I have "cribbed"

It means that future readers understand where it came from, and can look at that source to see more rationalisation about it than what I can provide.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#205

Post by TeriyakiBomb »

janice1999 wrote: post #73
glitchc wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Zed currently does not have a revenue stream. Ot's only a matter of time before the same shenanigans ensue.

They're a commercial entity that sells AI plans and enterprise features.

Honestly not sure how viable that is long term with the way the pricing kinda needs to go. I think the recent copilot price increase is just the tip of the iceberg.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#206

Post by thephyber »

sdevonoes wrote: post #195
2ndorderthought wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One things for sure I won't be buying any SaaS, streaming, or ordering from Amazon if I have no future prospects for work. I already stopped most of my subscriptions because of a layoff unrelated to AI. We buy food and go for walks as entertainment. It's been refreshing but also obviously scary.

Didn’t get the “scary” part. I also keep my entertainment to the minimum dependencies possible. I try to rely on stuff I own: music cds, iso videogames + emulators, physical books or ebooks (thanks Anna), exercise outdoors… ditching streaming like netflix/youtube, buying crap on amazon, uber, etc

Scary = “if I have no future prospects for work”

It’s the combination of AI changing the workplace, the large techs shedding double digit headcount, recruiting / hiring departments being so broken by the AI arms race hitting job applications, and the macro business environment generally being on the downward slope at the moment.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#207

Post by TeriyakiBomb »

Scarbutt wrote: post #43
preommr wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turn it off and rage on social media. If it gets bad enough, look into Zed. Their tagline is literally "your last next editor".

Unfortunately, Zed is years behind VSCode in terms of polish, Microsoft supported LSPs just work better in VSCode, they are better integrated, and Zed can't do anything about LSPs memory or peformance.

I'm rooting for Zed but it does feel quite underbaked still right now.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#208

Post by VanTheBrand »

jiveturkey wrote: post #189
polski-g wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good point. That fake commit addendum means that the entire commit contents would not be under copyright protection. AI generated code is not currently copyrightable.

It doesn't mean that. A Co-Authored-By header isn't a legal signature or legal assertion of AI generated code.

It’s certainly an assertion.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#209

Post by VanTheBrand »

Gibbon1 wrote: post #149
yankohr wrote: post #84

This feels like the modern version of 'Sent from my iPhone' but much more invasive. Git commits are legal and technical records. Falsifying who authored a piece of code just to pump up AI usage stats is a huge breach of trust and it is disappointing to see Microsoft prioritize branding over the integrity of the developer's log. I expect my IDE to record what happened, not what the marketing department wants people to…

One could argue that Co-Authored by Copilot means 'not under copyright'

Yeah the current guidance from US copyright office is that if it were said to be solely authored by copilot it would not be eligible for copyright. If it were said to be solely authored by human A (who happened to use co-pilot) the elements and arrangement of it not generated by co-pilot would be copyrightable. I’m not sure the copyright office has released guidance on attempting to register AI as a co-author I assume the registration would be rejected but you’d be able to re-submit as sole Human author.

Re: VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

#210

Post by tln »

bojan wrote: post #194
tln wrote: post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sneaky commit modification is triggered by very modest usage of AI such as auto-completion. Look, if an agent writes the code and the commit message then adding a Co-authored-by by default is ok. Not even showing it before the commit is made is not, and adding the message when AI was just completing code is not.

I genuinely think it's not ok even then. Copilot is a tool, one of many I use. That tool has no business polluting commit messages without my knowledge. The appended message isn't even adding any new information, as in this day and age a vast majority of commits is probably "co-authored" by an LLM.

I should have been clearer, the hidden addition is never ok.

If I ask Claude to write a commit message, it will inserted a co-author line (and an ad), but I can see it and disapprove, add a counter instruction to CLAUDE.md etc

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