GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot launched in June 2022 as the first mainstream AI coding assistant, backed by Microsoft and OpenAI. It uses OpenAI Codex and later GPT-4o models to provide inline code suggestions as you type. With 1.8M+ paying users, it retains the largest install base in AI coding, though Cursor has been gaining ground rapidly. GitHub is responding with Copilot Workspace — a project-level AI feature for multi-file editing — in direct competition with Cursor Composer. Copilot is embedded in VS Code, JetBrains, and other editors via official plugins.