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GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

thurrott.com

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Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#31

Post by 0x008 »

tandav wrote: post #16

Does anyone know vscode extension that can use OpenAI API to perform code completions like Copilot? There are several ChatGPT-like UIs that you can self host and pay only for API and not for ChatGPT plus. For example, I'm using https://github.com/Yidadaa/ChatGPT-Next-Web . It would be nice to use Copilot in the same way.

continue.dev can complete code as well, but it is not a mere code completion plugin like copilot, it is more like an interactive chatbot where you can edit and talk about parts of the code which you have selected.

for mere code completion there is this: https://github.com/FarisHijazi/PrivateGitHubCopilot

but I haven't tested it.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#32

Post by jasonlotito »

cabirum wrote: post #10

How came that usually privacy-minded hn crowd uses run-by-someone-else models so cheerfully and carelessly? You do realize any data sent to MS/openai/anyone will be stored forever and probably be used against you in the (near) future?

> How came that usually privacy-minded hn crowd

HN has never been a privacy-minded crowd. It's been a collection of random people, and depending on the threads of topic, you'll get more people speaking out than others. See the Dropbox post from 2007. Nary a privacy concern. HN isn't a single voice.

Why do you think it's a privacy-minded crowd? Because you probably react and respond to similar posts, and you see people with a like-mind there.

> How came that usually privacy-minded hn crowd uses run-by-someone-else models so cheerfully and carelessly?

Let's answer this question: they probably aren't doing it carelessly. Consider that Copilot is run by Microsoft, who owns GitHub and your code already. So, they already have the code. I'm not sending them something they don't already have.

Anyways, when I see something I didn't expect to see on HN, my initial thought isn't how it's wrong, but rather, what am I missing? And rather than post an antagonistic question, I instead try to research more to get a better understanding of what I'm missing.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#33

Post by bhouston »

Thus, the price of Github Copilot is going to go up, 2x to 5x.

For all of the criticism of Github Copilot, for a lot of developers (but not all), the value Github Copilot is incredibly high, much more than $20/month.

The current rock bottom pricing is low compared to the value provided for those users.

As such there is a big opportunity to multiply the price here being charged. Probably an increase between 3x to 5x.

The excuse is because they are losing money, but the underlying reason is that the value it is providing is so high in terms of developer productivity.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#34

Post by TheRoque »

tedivm wrote: post #13
linuxftw wrote: post #6

Copilot is useless compared to chat-gpt4. There's really no comparison. As far as the costs, it seems like transmitting things repeatedly would be more expensive than the chat model where you just transmit things when you want them.

Copilot is chat gpt4, and has been since roughly April. It's built on top of it.

Wow, I didn't know there, I must have missed the news. I swear I have seen everywhere that it was using this "Codex" model

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#35

Post by 0x008 »

bloopernova wrote: post #11

The article says Microsoft wants computers to one day have Neural Processing Units (NPU) like most have GPUs. If that led to faster suggestions for copilot, I'd be all for it. Right now, a GPU is an NPU. Does anyone how an NPU would differ from a graphics card?

I think Meta (facebook) is already working with android phone manufacturers to include chips with specific instruction sets to support the llama architecture.

probably intel is working on the same. I assume the next generation of mobile chips (laptop or phone) will all include special LLM processors.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#36

Post by bhouston »

LeicaLatte wrote: post #26

GitHub’s CoPilot is the most disappointing of AI products out there.

For some developers for sure, but not all. I am a senior developer with +20 years of experience and I find Github Copilot amazing. It significantly boosts my productivity. I do not expect the world from it, and I do run into limitations, but it helps me tremendously to be productive in languages and tools which I have low/no familiarity.

I think Github Copilot paired with ChatGPT fails the most in idiosyncratic code bases where you are doing maintenance or complex refactors. I think Github Copilot with ChatGPT shines in writing green field code in areas where you are will to use the best practices and the open sources libraries that Chat GPT recommends. Basically, if you align with where Chat GPT recommends to go, then it will help you a lot more than if you try to fight it all the way.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#37

Post by KaoruAoiShiho »

noodlesUK wrote: post #20

I feel like the centralisation of server resources for something like copilot doesn’t really make sense. Many (most) professional developers are working on beefy laptops. If ever there were a case to run these models client side, a software developer’s laptop is probably the ideal place. What are the specs that are needed to run inference on these models?

A lot higher than the beefy laptop... Even a 4090 can't run it well.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#38

Post by [deleted] »

noodlesUK wrote: post #20

I feel like the centralisation of server resources for something like copilot doesn’t really make sense. Many (most) professional developers are working on beefy laptops. If ever there were a case to run these models client side, a software developer’s laptop is probably the ideal place. What are the specs that are needed to run inference on these models?

[deleted]

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#39

Post by linuxftw »

tedivm wrote: post #13
linuxftw wrote: post #6

Copilot is useless compared to chat-gpt4. There's really no comparison. As far as the costs, it seems like transmitting things repeatedly would be more expensive than the chat model where you just transmit things when you want them.

Copilot is chat gpt4, and has been since roughly April. It's built on top of it.

The underlying model might be as good, but how you interface with it seems to deliver wildly different results. I can easily get chat-gpt to give me entire blocks of code. Copilot just trickles out small bits. Copilot is also very distracting because I find myself constantly waiting to see if what it's going to do next is helpful or not, whereas just typing into chat gpt I know I'm going to get something in the direction of what I want.

Re: GitHub Copilot loses an average of $20 per user per month

#40

Post by WithinReason »

bloopernova wrote: post #11

The article says Microsoft wants computers to one day have Neural Processing Units (NPU) like most have GPUs. If that led to faster suggestions for copilot, I'd be all for it. Right now, a GPU is an NPU. Does anyone how an NPU would differ from a graphics card?

If you already have a GPU, adding tensor cores to it is more optimal (less area=cheaper) than adding a separate NPU.
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