Microsoft’s GitHub to add OpenAI chat functions to coding tool

Developers can sign up for a waitlist to preview the new service. — Photo by Lionel BONAVENTURE/AFP

Microsoft Corp.’s GitHub unit created one of the first widely deployed programs using OpenAI’s language-generation tools – an app called Copilot that helped software developers write computer code. Now GitHub is adding a chat and voice feature that will let programmers ask how to accomplish certain coding tasks.

The new version announced Wednesday is called Copilot X, which GitHub Chief Executive Officer Thomas Dohmke said he demonstrated to one of his children by asking it how to program a snake game in Python. The chat window can provide explanations of what segments of code are meant to do, create ways to test the code and propose fixes for bugs. Developers can also give instructions or ask questions using their voice.