Microsoft is making its GitHub Copilot AI developer assistant available for free. This means anyone can create apps with the help of AI. It is even available as a chatbot.
GitHub Copilot was launched before ChatGPT by about a month. It came out in October 2021 to help developers automate some boring parts of writing code. Since then, it has expanded and can now do much of the work on its own.
The free plan includes GPT-4o and Claude 3.5 Sonnet, but you only get 50 messages or interactions with the AI monthly. You'll need to pay $10 monthly for Pro to get unlimited access. This also brings with it access to o1 from OpenAI.
This comes off the back of Microsoft announcing GitHub Spark earlier this year. It is an AI-agent-type service that can create mini-apps from a single prompt. Spark isn't yet widely available, but it could be an extension of a GitHub plan in the future.
What can you do with GitHub Copilot?
GitHub Copilot is like ChatGPT but built explicitly for code. You can use it in a number of different ways. One is to finish off lines of code as you write them, and the other is a simple chat interface that lets you ask questions about your code.
You can use Copilot Chat inside the GitHub dashboard; all you need is a free GitHub account. You can also use it in a number of code editors, including Visual Studio Code, Apple Xcode and JetBrains.
One example shared by GitHub showed how to use Copilot to create a clone of Conway's Game of Life using Copilot. I've personally used it to create word games, puzzles and even simple to-do list apps.
If you've ever wanted to learn to build your apps or improve your coding abilities, GitHub Copilot's free launch is a good place to start.
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