Update on "Co-authored-by: Copilot" in commit messages

GitHub’s latest mini-scandal wasn’t really about code — it was about credit, consent, and a whole lot of annoyed developers. The company had turned on a setting that could add “Co-authored-by: Copilot” to people’s commit messages, basically a little note saying the AI helped write the work. Then came the facepalm: a bug meant Copilot sometimes got credit even when it shouldn’t have, including cases where people had AI features turned off. That sent the community straight into meltdown mode.

The loudest reaction? People hated the default being switched on. One commenter called it a “complete dik move,” while another said adding authorship labels felt like slapping an “Intel Inside” sticker on a computer you already bought. Ouch. Others weren’t just mad — they were suspicious. Some kept asking the basic question of why the default changed at all, and were furious they felt ignored. That silence became part of the drama.

And then there were the hot takes. One commenter went full scorched earth, calling the whole thing “extremely pathetic” and somehow ending up at “nationalize Excel,” which is exactly the kind of internet escalation that makes these threads impossible to look away from. On the more practical side, one user shared a DIY workaround: use your own name for human work and the model name for AI work, so you can track who wrote what line. GitHub has now backed off, set the default back to off, promised explicit user consent, and is even considering changing the wording from “co-authored-by” to something softer like “assisted-by.” But the real headline is the vibe: the crowd saw unwanted AI credit as clingy, tacky, and way too pushy.