GitHub has unveiled plans for a new enterprise subscription tier
GitHub set to launch in February 2024, that will enable companies to customize and optimize its Copilot pair-programmer tool according to their internal codebase. This announcement was part of a series of updates presented at the GitHub Universe developer conference, shedding light on Copilot Chat’s official availability and introducing a partner program.
Copilot Chat, powered by the OpenAI large language model GPT-4, was initially revealed in March and later released in public beta for business users in July. It is a chatbot integrated into developers’ IDEs, offering assistance in understanding and improving code, identifying bugs, and providing inline feedback. Starting December, Copilot Chat will be available for general use, with GitHub refraining from specifying the exact release date.
GitHub’s Copilot subscription currently comes in two variants: $10/month for individuals and $19/month for businesses. The newly introduced Copilot Enterprise, priced at $39/month, will incorporate all features from the existing business plan and additional functionalities. Notably, companies can personalize Copilot Chat for their specific codebase and fine-tune the underlying models. This allows developers to receive tailored suggestions on their internal, private code.
Copilot Chat, which initially operated within the IDE, is expanding its reach to GitHub.com for Copilot Enterprise subscribers. This extension allows developers to access summaries, suggestions, and answers related to their code, documentation, and pull requests directly on the GitHub platform.
GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke
Thomas Dohmke, highlighted the significance of Copilot Enterprise, stating, “By placing the collective knowledge of your organization’s codebase at their fingertips, your developers will not only write code faster but deploy your next application, feature, or update ahead of the curve of your competition.”
During initial testing, GitHub collaborated with AMD, with the chip giant emphasizing how fine-tuning Copilot’s model enabled accurate AI suggestions tailored to their specific hardware design languages.
In addition to Copilot Enterprise, GitHub announced the Copilot Partner Program, aimed at fostering collaborations with the developer community. This program involves third-party developers building plugins for Copilot, with companies like Datastax, LaunchDarkly, Postman, HashiCorp, and Datadog already onboard. The goal is to enhance Copilot’s capabilities, offering solutions from improving database queries to checking feature flags and A/B testing.
Furthermore, GitHub is introducing Copilot Workspace in 2024, positioned as a “natural language bridge” for developers to swiftly transition from idea to code execution. This feature provides developers with an auto-generated plan when opening an issue in a Copilot Workspace, allowing them to make repository-wide changes efficiently.
On the security front, GitHub is enhancing its 2020 features with new AI capabilities. An “autofix” feature for code-scanning will expedite vulnerability remediation by providing precise, actionable suggestions for CodeQL, JavaScript, and TypeScript alerts in pull requests. Developers can commit these fixes with a click or modify them before merging into the codebase, ensuring a frictionless remediation experience.
GitHub’s continuous enhancements reflect its commitment to providing developers with powerful, customizable tools to streamline their workflow and enhance code quality and security.
