VS Code inserting 'Co-Authored-by Copilot' into commits regardless of usage

A tiny setting change in VS Code turned into full-blown comment-section theater after people noticed the editor could start adding “Co-Authored-by Copilot” to code commits by default. In plain English: the app might label Microsoft’s AI assistant as a contributor to your saved work, even when users say they didn’t meaningfully use it. That was enough to send developers into a trust crisis, with one approver publicly apologizing and admitting the switch was turned on without enough validation.

And wow, the community did not keep it polite. The loudest critics called it everything from a sneaky branding stunt to a serious corruption of the record of who actually wrote code. One commenter compared it to the old “Sent from my iPhone” signature, except “much more invasive,” because code history can matter for jobs, audits, and even legal disputes. Another went full scorched-earth, saying big tech spent years rebuilding public trust only to “set fire to the whole thing in an offering to their robot gods.” Subtle? Not exactly.

Then came the funniest twist: commenters pointed out that Copilot itself reportedly suggested reverting the change because the update didn’t even consistently work. Yes, the AI may have tried to stop its own PR disaster, and humans allegedly ignored it. That detail became instant meme fuel. After backlash, the setting reportedly shifted again from off → on → chatAndAgent, which only added to the vibe that everyone was panic-editing the fallout in real time.