GitHub Copilot users gain access to Stack Overflow knowledge

Stack Overflow has launched an extension for GitHub Copilot that promises to improve how developers find solutions. The extension allows users to pose questions directly within the AI-driven coding assistant and receive summarised responses informed by Stack Overflow’s extensive knowledge base.

GitHub and Stack Overflow’s partnership aims to aid developers in tackling their most challenging coding queries. The latest Stack Overflow Developer Survey reveals that 61% of developers dedicate over half an hour daily to searching for answers, highlighting the potential impact of this integration on productivity.

By remaining within their preferred development environment, developers can now maintain their “flow state” and access trusted information without needing to navigate away. This initiative aligns with Stack Overflow’s broader strategy to enhance its Knowledge-as-a-Service offering, ensuring 16 years of high-quality technical content is readily accessible at developers’ fingertips.

Stack Overflow says that it’s also committed to ushering in a new era of socially responsible AI. This involves ensuring the knowledge shared within AI models is not only accurate and high-quality, but also properly sourced and attributed. The new extension includes attribution to the Stack Overflow content utilised, providing users with a clear path to further context and information.

Prashanth Chandrasekar, CEO of Stack Overflow, said:

“Our goal has always been to make Stack Overflow the destination for all things technology knowledge—a beacon of trust and expertise. However, we know developers are leveraging a number of new AI tools to support productivity, and we want to ensure we are meeting them where they are and how they like to work.

Similar to our Visual Studio Code Extension, we hope this collaboration with GitHub and the Copilot Extension will allow developers to remain focused in their workflow but take into account that they are supported by trusted and attributed content backed by the millions within our community.”

The extension is initially available to a limited group of early access users via the GitHub Marketplace. Stack Overflow is also planning to extend this integration to its Stack Overflow for Teams product in the coming months, further embedding their resources into the developer workflow.

Mario Rodriguez, Chief Product Officer at GitHub, commented:

“With our Copilot-powered platform, we look to keep developers in the flow with access to the services, tools, and resources they need to build and create in the AI era.

Extensions like Stack Overflow for GitHub Copilot empower developers with a customisable and streamlined workflow, improving productivity when searching for simple and complex technical questions.

Developer choice results in developer happiness, and we are excited to continue to grow our ecosystem.”

By ensuring that developers have access to reliable, community-backed information without needing to leave their coding environment, both Stack Overflow and GitHub are hoping to continue streamlining developers’ workflows.

This latest announcement follows a similar partnership Stack Overflow struck with OpenAI earlier this year to integrate its validated technical knowledge into products like ChatGPT.

(Image by Dariusz Sankowski)

See also: JetBrains launches AI model for software development tasks

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Tags: AI, artificial intelligence, coding, copilot, development, extensions, git, github, github copilot, programming, stack overflow