Definition
Plain language
An AI assistant built into code editors that suggests code as you type.
As stated in the literature
GitHub's LLM-based code-completion assistant; cited as the earlier autocomplete-style generation of AI coding tools, contrasted with later stateful agentic systems like Cursor and Claude Code that run in an action loop over a repository.
Also called: Copilot
Why it matters: It marks the autocomplete style of AI coding help, a useful contrast to later agents that can act across a whole codebase on their own.
For example, as you start typing a function to sort a list, it pops up a complete suggestion you can accept with a keystroke.
Heard on the show
“Two years ago, AI coding assistance meant something like GitHub Copilot — autocomplete and snippets.”Episode 029 — Why Forty-Eight Percent on FrontierMath Isn't the Real Story in DeepMind's New Math Paper