GitHub has cranked up the gears of its AI-driven Copilot tool, introducing an autonomous agent mode in Visual Studio Code.
This upgrade means Copilot can now self-improve — identifying and fixing its own errors, suggesting terminal commands, and inferring additional tasks necessary for comprehensive code solutions, according to CEO Thomas Dohmke.
Dohmke emphasized that AI should assist developers rather than replace them, acting like a first officer who can handle tasks independently when needed.
The updated Copilot in its agent mode can autonomously iterate on its output, moving from error recognition to runtime self-healing, extending into multi-file edits and workspace management, Github said.
In addition to agent mode, Copilot introduces Copilot Edits in general availability and a sneak peek at Project Padawan, an autonomous software engineer (SWE) agent.
SWE agents, part of Project Padawan, promise to handle intricate development tasks autonomously, with the intention to eventually manage everything from generating and reviewing code to automating workflows.
The Bigger Picture: The age of AI agents seems to be taking shape. OpenAI has launched two back-to-back agents in Operator and Deep Research.
Github is owned by Microsoft, while the tech giant is a major investor in OpenAI.
Agents are different from our usual experience with generative AI in that they are designed end-to-end to act autonomously. This means being able to complete multiple varying tasks in a sequence, and be able to learn new things from feedback given by users and improve themselves.
Github Copilot was one of the first such generative AI tool in mass market intended for coding when it launched with GPT-3 in 2021. Now, the market is flush with option with the rise of Cursor, Codeium and the likes.
Google too has moved to integrate its Gemini models for coding utility, including integrating it in Chrome developer tools.
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