Just as the initial influx of do-everything large language models (LLMs) have been advancing along with smaller and more specialized AI constructs, the same could happen to Microsoft's coding-specific GitHub Copilot.
Conceivably, the company could produce smaller, customized, targeted copilots for specific coding use cases, domains or even programming languages.
While the advantages of such an approach haven't yet been debated a lot, much less realized, Microsoft provides a hint of what might come in a recent article, "Unleashing GitHub Copilot for Infrastructure as Code."
Note that the article's discussion of "GH Copilot for Infra" does not refer to a new tool, but rather an approach using existing Visual Studio Code and its GitHub Copilot extension, requiring a license.
But what if it became a discrete new, specialized tool, followed by others?
Noting the challenges faced by infrastructure professionals, the article states: "Leveraging GitHub Copilot to generate infra code specifically for infrastructure professionals is helping to revolutionize the way infrastructure is written, addressing the pain points experienced by professionals in the field."
The significance of GitHub Copilot for Infra, the company said, is illustrated by the following benefits: