WTF: Microsoft forces "Co-Authored-by Copilot" in commits
Anyone who wrote their code with the help of Copilot now has to share the commit message with the AI assistant, but this can be deactivated.
A pull request for VS Code is currently causing discontent on Github: it makes Copilot the co-author in every commit message by default, provided the AI tool was used for the respective changes to a project with the help of the programming software VS Code. In the developer community, there was frustration about this step, as well as confusion about the topic. However, anyone who does not want to share the commit message with Copilot can deactivate this setting.
According to the overview of the pull request, the setting git.addAICoAuthor of the Git extension for VS Code is set to all by default. The effect: If a Copilot feature is used for a code change, such as inline completions or agent use, this is indicated in the commit message when publishing to Git. Here, “Co-authored-by: Copilot copilot@github.com” can be read.
Users report problems
This initially caused some confusion in the community; some users desperately tried to remove the Copilot mention manually from the commit message – only to find it back in there after publication, as someone reports in this Git thread. Meanwhile, complaints from users are piling up under the pull request itself. Many are annoyed by the lack of communication about the change and also report the initially inexplicable behavior of the commit messages. But there are apparently also bigger problems: Several users complain that Copilot is also mentioned when the tool was not used at all.
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The new behavior can be deactivated via the VS Code settings. The corresponding menu can be accessed via the gear icon at the bottom left. Here, under Settings>Extensions>Git, the option “off” must be set under “Add AI Co Author”. Alternatively, “git.addAICoAuthor”: “off” can also be entered in settings.json.
In a brief test in our editorial office with VS Code v1.118 on macOS, “chatAndAgent” was set by default in the VS Code settings. According to Microsoft, the automatic Copilot mention should thus be limited to cases where chatbot or AI agent assistance was used. However, if you want to be sure, you should definitely choose the “off” setting.
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