WorkThe story, in brief
Microsoft caught sneaking "Co-Authored-by Copilot" into VS Code commits - even with AI off
Microsoft buried AI attribution in your Git commits without permission. Here's why that matters for your compliance and IP strategy.
The KeyNews take
Why it matters
Microsoft's undisclosed addition of Copilot co-authorship tags to commits—even when AI is disabled—raises governance, transparency, and IP attribution concerns that engineering leaders and compliance teams need to address immediately.
The key facts
4 to knowMicrosoft added 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' metadata to Git commits without explicit user consent
Attribution tags appeared even when Copilot features were explicitly turned off
Practice was not transparently communicated to developers beforehand
Raises questions about AI attribution, code ownership, and compliance tracking in enterprise environments
Go to the source
The Decoderthe-decoder.com
Publisher excerpt: Microsoft quietly slipped a "Co-Authored-by Copilot" line into Git commits in Visual Studio Code - even for developers who had turned off the AI features entirely.