What Is GitHub Copilot? The AI Coding Assistant, Explained

GitHub Copilot is an AI coding assistant that lives inside your code editor and helps you write software faster. As you type, it suggests the next lines of code, writes whole functions from a comment, explains unfamiliar code and answers programming questions in a chat sidebar. It’s often described as an “AI pair programmer.” If the underlying technology is new to you, our explainer on how AI chatbots work covers the large language models that power it.

How GitHub Copilot works

Copilot is built on the same kind of large language models behind chatbots, but trained and tuned heavily on code. It reads the context of the file you’re working in — and often your wider project — and predicts what you’re likely to write next. Accept a suggestion with a keystroke, or ignore it and keep typing. A chat mode lets you ask for explanations, fixes or new code in plain language.

What you can do with it

• Autocomplete on steroids. It finishes lines and whole blocks as you type.
• Code from comments. Describe what you want in a comment and it drafts the implementation.
• Explain and debug. Highlight confusing code and ask what it does, or paste an error and ask for a fix.
• Work across editors. It integrates with popular editors like VS Code and others.

What makes it notable

GitHub Copilot, from GitHub (owned by Microsoft), was the tool that popularized in-editor AI coding. A useful modern twist: it increasingly lets you choose which underlying AI model handles your request — including models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google — so you can pick the one that suits a task.

Copilot vs general chatbots for coding

You don’t always need a dedicated coding tool. General assistants are strong coders too: Claude is widely favored for programming and careful reasoning — see what Claude is — and ChatGPT handles code well within a broader toolset. The difference is workflow: Copilot meets you inside the editor, while a chatbot is a separate window you paste into. For how the big assistants stack up, see ChatGPT vs Claude vs Grok.

Is GitHub Copilot free?

There’s typically a limited free tier, with paid plans (individual and business) that raise limits and add features. Students, teachers and maintainers of popular open-source projects can often qualify for free access. Pricing changes often, so check GitHub for current details.

FAQ

What is GitHub Copilot used for?

It helps you write software faster by suggesting and completing code in your editor, drafting functions from comments, explaining code and answering programming questions in chat.

Who makes GitHub Copilot?

It’s made by GitHub, which is owned by Microsoft. It runs on large language models, and increasingly lets you pick which underlying model — from OpenAI, Anthropic or Google — handles a request.

Is GitHub Copilot free?

There’s usually a limited free tier, plus paid individual and business plans. Students, teachers and maintainers of popular open-source projects can often get it free. Check GitHub for current details.

Do I still need to know how to code?

Yes. Copilot speeds up coding and lowers the barrier to entry, but it suggests code that you still need to review, test and understand — it can be confidently wrong, just like any AI. It’s an assistant, not a replacement.

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The AI field moves fast and tool capabilities change frequently. This explainer reflects the current landscape and is reviewed periodically.