Microsoft's VS Code began automatically adding GitHub Copilot as a co-author on all Git commits in April 2026, even for developers who don't use the AI tool. Pull Request #310226 changed the default setting for git.addAICoAuthor from 'off' to 'all' on April 16, triggering widespread backlash from developers who found the AI attribution appearing in their commit history without their consent.
The feature operated independently of AI settings, with users reporting that Co-authored-by: Copilot <copilot@github.com> appeared in commits even when they had explicitly disabled AI features through chat.disableAIFeatures: true. Developers who manually wrote their own commit messages—or deleted Copilot-generated text entirely—still found the co-author attribution added automatically.
Feature Ignored User Preferences and AI Settings
The community response was overwhelmingly negative, with the GitHub pull request receiving 372 thumbs-down reactions. Critical issues identified by users included:
- Attribution appeared for developers who had never used Copilot
- The feature ignored the
disableAIFeaturessetting completely - Manual commit messages received the same AI co-author credit as AI-generated ones
- Copilot's own code review flagged a critical inconsistency in the implementation
One Hacker News user reported: "I don't even use copilot. Yet, if you are like me and sometimes use the Source Control tab to stage files or manually write commit messages, it automatically appends Copilot as the co author for that commit."
Scale and Legal Implications
GitHub searches reveal approximately 4 million commits now contain the Copilot co-author attribution. The automatic crediting raises legal questions about copyright, since non-human authors cannot hold copyright under current law. If Copilot is listed as a co-author on commits, it could complicate ownership claims for code repositories.
Developers warned that the automatic tagging undermines the meaningful signal that Co-Authored-by tags are supposed to provide for tracking real collaborative contributions. Some developers reported switching to alternative editors like Zed and Neovim in response.
Microsoft Acknowledges Problems
On May 2, 2026, dmitrivMS, the original committer of the pull request, acknowledged the regression and committed to fixing multiple problems: respecting disableAIFeatures settings, preventing false AI attribution, and improving test coverage. The GitHub conversation was subsequently locked. User reactions described the feature as "invasive," "ridiculous," and "desperate."
Key Takeaways
- VS Code's Git extension began automatically crediting GitHub Copilot as a co-author on all commits in April 2026, regardless of whether developers used the AI tool
- The feature ignored user settings including
disableAIFeaturesand added attribution even to manually written commit messages - Approximately 4 million commits on GitHub now contain the Copilot co-author attribution
- Microsoft acknowledged the problems on May 2, 2026, and committed to fixes including respecting user settings and preventing false attribution
- The automatic crediting raises legal questions about copyright ownership since non-human authors cannot hold copyright