A GitHub study finds that developers who accept more Copilot suggestions at least feel more productive, while actual programmer productivity is hard to measure. Credit: Getty Images A GitHub study has found that the developers who report the greatest productivity gains from using GitHub Copilot, the company’s AI-based programming assistant, were those who accepted the most Copilot code suggestions. The study combined a survey of users’ perceived productivity with analysis of their Copilot usage. GitHub on July 14 said it had surveyed more than 2,000 developers who have been using Copilot, which suggests lines of code using an AI model that has been trained on billions of lines of open source code. Copilot users who reported “huge” productivity gains were those who had found nearly 30% of Copilot’s suggestions acceptable. At the other end of the spectrum, users who reported “modest” productivity gains had found only about 23% of Copilot’s suggestions acceptable. Users reporting “medium” and “high” productivity gains had accepted roughly 27% and 28% of Copilot’s suggestions, respectively. GitHub also found that developers did not care if they needed to rework a suggestion, as long as Copilot gave them a suitable starting point. The company noted that “Copilot isn’t designed to build software by itself, but to offer helpful suggestions that make it easier for developers to stay in the flow.” It offers developers the parts but leaves it up to them to design and build the finished product. GitHub has published an academic research paper with its findings, “Productivity Assessment of Neural Code Completion,” and plans more studies of Copilot usage. GitHub Copilot, which is accessible from GitHub, became generally available last month. The tool has drawn criticism, notably from the Free Software Foundation, which raised questions about the fairness, legitimacy, and legality of its use of freely licensed source code. Related content analysis Beyond the usual suspects: 5 fresh data science tools to try today The mid-month report includes quick tips for easier Python installation, a new VS Code-like IDE just for Python and R users, and five newer data science tools you won't want to miss. By Serdar Yegulalp Jul 12, 2024 2 mins Python Programming Languages Software Development analysis Generative AI won’t fix cloud migration You’ve probably heard how generative AI will solve all cloud migration problems. It’s not that simple. Generative AI could actually make it harder and more costly. By David Linthicum Jul 12, 2024 5 mins Generative AI Artificial Intelligence Cloud Computing news HR professionals trust AI recommendations HireVue survey finds 73% of HR professionals trust AI to make candidate recommendations, while 75% of workers are opposed to AI making hiring decisions. By Paul Krill Jul 11, 2024 3 mins Technology Industry Careers how-to Safety off: Programming in Rust with `unsafe` What does it mean to write unsafe code in Rust, and what can you do (and not do) with the 'unsafe' keyword? The facts may surprise you. By Serdar Yegulalp Jul 11, 2024 8 mins Rust Programming Languages Software Development Resources Videos