GitHub is going multi-model for its code completion and programming tool Copilot. Developers will soon be able to choose templates from Anthropic, Google, and OpenAI for GitHub Copilot. GitHub is also announcing Spark, an AI tool for building web applications, as well as updates to GitHub Copilot in VS Code, Copilot for Xcode, and more, at its GitHub Universe conference today.

GitHub Copilot users on the web or VS Code can select Claude 3.5, with Gemini 1.5 Pro in the coming weeks. OpenAI’s GPT-4o, o1-preview, and o1-mini models will also soon be available in GitHub Copilot. Developers will be able to switch between templates during a conversation with Copilot Chat to find the template best suited for a particular task.

“There is no single model to govern every scenario, and developers expect the agency to build with the models that work best for them,” says Thomas Dohmke, CEO of GitHub. “It is clear that the next phase of AI code generation will not only be defined by multi-model features, but also by multi-model choice.”

Microsoft-owned GitHub was the first to launch its AI tool called Copilot in 2021, ahead of Microsoft’s efforts to make Copilot the center of its AI efforts. This is the first major result of Microsoft’s initial $1 billion investment in OpenAI, and GitHub announced last week that Copilot now has more than 1 million paying subscribers. It will be interesting to see if Microsoft takes GitHub’s multi-model approach and opens up its own Copilot AI assistant to models from competitors like Google and Anthropic.

GitHub is also announcing Spark today, an AI tool that makes it easier to build natural language web applications. An initial prompt uses OpenAI and Anthropic models to produce live previews of what the web application will look like, and GitHub Spark users can compare versions as they make changes. GitHub Spark allows experienced developers to directly manipulate code, while novices can create a web application entirely in natural language.

Once the app is created, you can run it on a desktop, tablet, or mobile device and also share the app with others to allow users to remix and expand on Spark apps. GitHub Spark is part of GitHub’s vision to reach 1 billion developers. “For too long, there has been an insurmountable barrier to entry that prevents a vast majority of the world’s population from creating software,” says Dohmke. “With Spark, we will enable more than a billion personal computer and mobile users to create and share their own micro-apps directly on GitHub. »

GitHub is also announcing more updates to Copilot in its GitHub Universe today. Multi-file editing for GitHub Copilot in VS Code is coming on November 1, allowing users to make changes on multiple files at the same time using Copilot Chat. Copilot extensions will also be available in early 2025, GitHub Copilot for Xcode enters public preview, and Copilot now has a new code review feature.