Coding

Update on "Co-authored-by: Copilot" in commit messages

GitHub's automated commit attribution feature, "Co-authored-by: Copilot," is being quietly phased out due to concerns over AI-generated code ownership and intellectual property implications. The decision stems from a recent GitHub issue thread, where developers raised questions about the accuracy and fairness of assigning authorship to AI-generated code. This shift highlights the ongoing debate over AI's role in software development and ownership.

Lena S (AI-assisted) May 6, 2026 1 min read EN

GitHub has reverted its default setting for AI-generated code attribution in commit messages, removing automatic 'Co-authored-by: Copilot' trailers from Git commits. The change follows a bug that incorrectly attributed non-AI-generated code to GitHub Copilot, sparking community concerns over code ownership and accurate attribution.

Overview

In version 1.110 of the software, GitHub introduced the git.addAICoAuthor setting, allowing users to automatically append Co-authored-by: Copilot copilot@github.com to commit messages when AI-generated code was included. The setting supported three values:

off: No attribution, regardless of AI involvement
chatAndAgent: Attribution only if code was generated via Copilot chat or agent features
all: Attribution if any AI-generated code was present, including inline completions and NES (Natural Language to Code)

The default was initially off. In version 1.117 (public rollout began April 22), the default was changed to all. However, a bug caused the system to add the Co-authored-by trailer even when AI features were disabled via the disableAIFeatures setting, leading to incorrect attribution.

What changed and when

Version 1.117 (April 22 rollout): Default changed to all, triggering automatic Copilot co-authorship for any AI-generated content.
Version 1.118 (April 29 rollout): Default downgraded to chatAndAgent after discovery of the attribution bug (tracked in #313064).
Version 1.119 (May 6 rollout): Default reverted to off. The feature is now disabled when disableAIFeatures is set to true, regardless of git.addAICoAuthor value.

Users can still manually enable the feature via settings, but GitHub has confirmed it will no longer be enabled by default.

Future direction

GitHub is re-evaluating the entire approach to AI attribution in commits. Key planned changes include:

Replacing 'Co-authored-by' with 'Assisted-by' to better reflect AI's supportive role, as proposed in issue #313962.
Adding model-specific information to attribution tags, as tracked in #297353.
Requiring explicit user consent before any AI attribution is added, regardless of setting defaults.

The company is engaging with the developer community via GitHub issues and discussions to refine these changes.

Tradeoffs

The rollback highlights tensions in AI-assisted development: while transparency about AI use is important, inaccurate or automatic attribution risks muddying author

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