5 ms·

When you use copilot integrated in the editor, does microsoft collect all source code data on your project or only context used to perform the completions?

jghn 4y ago
Concern over this is the #1 reason I have not yet tried to use Copilot. For my hobby projects I don't care enough to pay for it. And if it's phoning home proprietary code, I can't allow that to happen.
- madisp 4y ago
  I use GitHub so not really a concern for me, they have my code already.
  - mplanchard 4y ago
    IIRC they didn’t train on private repos though, so using copilot in a private (github) repo will potentially open up your proprietary code to being used in that way.
    - insane_dreamer 4y ago
      No, the model doesn't train on your private code (which is good but also somewhat limiting as in my experience it doesn't provide useful answers that are very specific to your codebase); it's good for generic code though and saves time looking stuff up.
- vintermann 4y ago
  Eh, as long as my employers don't care (they don't), I don't care. I have no illusions that my code/our code will give Microsoft any valuable training data it couldn't trivially get elsewhere.
  - jghn 4y ago
    Mine does, and therein lies my issue.
    - bongobingo1 4y ago
      If that's the case, would co-pilot be useful anyway? Or are you off the range where suggestions wont help?
      - jghn 4y ago
        In theory there are no rules about importing code, beyond the usual licensing issues. But people use SO and such all of the time, right? If one *really* wanted to do a global audit of improperly imported code, we'd all have bigger problems. So from that perspective it's status quo. But I don't want to be the person caught uploading proprietary code to another company's servers. It's not a major issue, and I doubt it'd ever be a practical problem. But fear of punishment keeps me away.
    - 2gremlin181 4y ago
      IMO Copilot for Business has a very reasonable data collection policy. They discard any code snippets once the suggestion is returned. https://github.com/features/copilot https://github.com/features/copilot
    - mlboss 4y ago
      You can always use https://github.com/salesforce/CodeGen https://github.com/salesforce/CodeGen . But it does require managing the model hosting. You can use fauxpilot to mimic copilot functionality https://github.com/fauxpilot/fauxpilot https://github.com/fauxpilot/fauxpilot
- programmarchy 4y ago
  It’s worth it even for hobby projects, imo. It reduces the time spent on mundane tasks and allows you to think at a higher level and just move faster. Maybe you achieve a level of zen from implementing utility level code, similar to how some people might still write assembly code, but otherwise it’s a valuable tool/skill to learn. Tangentially, I think there’s some fear associated with adopting AI tools, perhaps because developers feel like their skill sets are being displaced. And they are but there’s headroom e.g. assembly programmers learned C. There seems to be some post-hoc rationalizations being put forth to avoid that fear, but my sense is that developers who don’t cultivate this new skill set will fall behind.
  - discreteevent 4y ago
    > my sense is that developers who don’t cultivate this new skill set will fall behind That might be true but it's an easy skillset to pick up compared to programming. The bigger danger is that new developers will lean on AI so much that they do not pick up the fundamentals of programming in which case they will definitely be left behind.
    - aliasxneo 4y ago
      Many, probably. However, the curious types will likely be further enhanced by AI. I've never been one to take code at face value, and I have been enjoying sessions with ChatGPT asking all sorts of questions about some of the stuff it produces. The answer is usually sufficient, and in cases where it's not, I've been given enough background context to know where to find the answer online or in books. Honestly, I've seen myself master many more additional things since I've started including it in my daily routine.
    - blibble 4y ago
      the result of this will be similar to hiring infosys hundreds of thousands of lines of buggy incomprehensible boilerplate that doesn't work on anything but the easy cases then you have to rip the entire thing apart and start again with people that know what they're doing
  - unshavedyak 4y ago
BowBun 4y ago
According to my subscribing and testing it out with the Sublime extension, you get to decide whether your code gets piped up into their model. Not that I've verified it by monitoring network calls.
SparkyMcUnicorn 4y ago
When you sign up for CoPilot, there's a settings section on Github for it. One option you can toggle is "Allow GitHub to use my code snippets for product improvements *". Context still needs to be processed, so surrounding line, block, and a couple open tabs gets piped into the prompt. And here's a quote from the privacy page. > Depending on your preferred telemetry settings, GitHub Copilot may also collect and retain the following, collectively referred to as “code snippets”: source code that you are editing, related files and other files open in the same IDE or editor, URLs of repositories and files path.
- belorn 4y ago
  What is the default?
  - skripp 4y ago
    To share. But it's a very obvious check-box.
wseqyrku 4y ago
Same is true if you use `git push` in which case all the code is transferred through the wire and is collected by GitHub which may or may not be desirable.
- airstrike 4y ago
  git != GitHub
  - folkrav 4y ago
    I think OP's point was that GitHub=Microsoft, so you're effectively sending your code to Microsoft in one way or another. Although the licensing/privacy policies are probably different for private repositories.

jghn 4y ago

Concern over this is the #1 reason I have not yet tried to use Copilot. For my hobby projects I don't care enough to pay for it. And if it's phoning home proprietary code, I can't allow that to happen.

madisp 4y ago
I use GitHub so not really a concern for me, they have my code already.
- mplanchard 4y ago
  IIRC they didn’t train on private repos though, so using copilot in a private (github) repo will potentially open up your proprietary code to being used in that way.
  - insane_dreamer 4y ago
    No, the model doesn't train on your private code (which is good but also somewhat limiting as in my experience it doesn't provide useful answers that are very specific to your codebase); it's good for generic code though and saves time looking stuff up.
vintermann 4y ago
Eh, as long as my employers don't care (they don't), I don't care. I have no illusions that my code/our code will give Microsoft any valuable training data it couldn't trivially get elsewhere.
- jghn 4y ago
  Mine does, and therein lies my issue.
  - bongobingo1 4y ago
    If that's the case, would co-pilot be useful anyway? Or are you off the range where suggestions wont help?
    - jghn 4y ago
      In theory there are no rules about importing code, beyond the usual licensing issues. But people use SO and such all of the time, right? If one *really* wanted to do a global audit of improperly imported code, we'd all have bigger problems. So from that perspective it's status quo. But I don't want to be the person caught uploading proprietary code to another company's servers. It's not a major issue, and I doubt it'd ever be a practical problem. But fear of punishment keeps me away.
  - 2gremlin181 4y ago
    IMO Copilot for Business has a very reasonable data collection policy. They discard any code snippets once the suggestion is returned. https://github.com/features/copilot https://github.com/features/copilot
  - mlboss 4y ago
    You can always use https://github.com/salesforce/CodeGen https://github.com/salesforce/CodeGen . But it does require managing the model hosting. You can use fauxpilot to mimic copilot functionality https://github.com/fauxpilot/fauxpilot https://github.com/fauxpilot/fauxpilot
programmarchy 4y ago
It’s worth it even for hobby projects, imo. It reduces the time spent on mundane tasks and allows you to think at a higher level and just move faster. Maybe you achieve a level of zen from implementing utility level code, similar to how some people might still write assembly code, but otherwise it’s a valuable tool/skill to learn. Tangentially, I think there’s some fear associated with adopting AI tools, perhaps because developers feel like their skill sets are being displaced. And they are but there’s headroom e.g. assembly programmers learned C. There seems to be some post-hoc rationalizations being put forth to avoid that fear, but my sense is that developers who don’t cultivate this new skill set will fall behind.
- discreteevent 4y ago
  > my sense is that developers who don’t cultivate this new skill set will fall behind That might be true but it's an easy skillset to pick up compared to programming. The bigger danger is that new developers will lean on AI so much that they do not pick up the fundamentals of programming in which case they will definitely be left behind.
  - aliasxneo 4y ago
    Many, probably. However, the curious types will likely be further enhanced by AI. I've never been one to take code at face value, and I have been enjoying sessions with ChatGPT asking all sorts of questions about some of the stuff it produces. The answer is usually sufficient, and in cases where it's not, I've been given enough background context to know where to find the answer online or in books. Honestly, I've seen myself master many more additional things since I've started including it in my daily routine.
  - blibble 4y ago
    the result of this will be similar to hiring infosys hundreds of thousands of lines of buggy incomprehensible boilerplate that doesn't work on anything but the easy cases then you have to rip the entire thing apart and start again with people that know what they're doing
- unshavedyak 4y ago

BowBun 4y ago

According to my subscribing and testing it out with the Sublime extension, you get to decide whether your code gets piped up into their model. Not that I've verified it by monitoring network calls.

SparkyMcUnicorn 4y ago

When you sign up for CoPilot, there's a settings section on Github for it. One option you can toggle is "Allow GitHub to use my code snippets for product improvements *". Context still needs to be processed, so surrounding line, block, and a couple open tabs gets piped into the prompt. And here's a quote from the privacy page. > Depending on your preferred telemetry settings, GitHub Copilot may also collect and retain the following, collectively referred to as “code snippets”: source code that you are editing, related files and other files open in the same IDE or editor, URLs of repositories and files path.

belorn 4y ago
What is the default?
- skripp 4y ago
  To share. But it's a very obvious check-box.

wseqyrku 4y ago

Same is true if you use `git push` in which case all the code is transferred through the wire and is collected by GitHub which may or may not be desirable.

airstrike 4y ago
git != GitHub
- folkrav 4y ago
  I think OP's point was that GitHub=Microsoft, so you're effectively sending your code to Microsoft in one way or another. Although the licensing/privacy policies are probably different for private repositories.