March 30, 2026
When code reviews become ad breaks
GitHub backs down, kills Copilot pull-request ads after backlash
Dev fury over sneaky “tips” in code reviews; GitHub yanks them
TLDR: GitHub disabled Copilot’s auto-inserted “tips” after it started dropping a Raycast plug into people’s code reviews, insisting it wasn’t ads but a logic bug. The community erupted, accusing Microsoft of force-feeding AI and fearing the feature will quietly return—raising trust issues for the world’s go-to coding hub.
Developers woke up to find their code reviews sounding like sales pitches—and they were not amused. After an Aussie dev spotted GitHub Copilot dropping a plug for app Raycast right inside his pull request (think: a code change note), the internet lit up. People found over 11,000 similar posts, and the mood went from “huh?” to “absolutely not.” By afternoon, GitHub hit reverse, saying the behavior was a mistake and turning the feature off. Execs called it “icky,” promised “no ads in GitHub,” and blamed a logic bug that let Copilot chime in on PRs it didn’t create.
The comments? A full-on roast. One camp says Microsoft keeps shoving AI into everything, making even fans hate it. Another camp fears a slow creep: disable it today, sneak it back tomorrow. A third group mocks the spin—calling ads “tips”—and drops the classic line about “the best minds… making people click ads.” Meanwhile, old wounds reopened: some remembered being told “Microsoft are the good guys now” during the GitHub buyout, and they’re not feeling so charitable.
Bottom line: GitHub says it wasn’t an ad play, just a feature gone wrong. Devs say trust was tested, and they’ll be watching. Source | HN thread
Key Points
- •GitHub disabled Copilot’s ability to insert “tips” into pull requests after developers reported promotional messages appearing in PRs when Copilot was invoked.
- •The behavior stemmed from a recent change allowing Copilot to act on any PR when mentioned, expanding beyond prior behavior limited to PRs created by Copilot.
- •A widely seen example promoted the Raycast app; over 11,400 PRs appeared to contain similar tips.
- •GitHub executives acknowledged the feature’s intent was educational but conceded it was a misjudgment to modify human-authored PRs without authors’ awareness.
- •An update from GitHub stated the issue was due to a programming logic error, clarified that GitHub does not plan to include ads, and confirmed removal of agent tips from PR comments.