Microsoft caught sneaking "Co-Authored-by Copilot" into VS Code commits - even with AI off

THE DECODER / 5/3/2026

📰 NewsSignals & Early TrendsIndustry & Market Moves

Key Points

  • Microsoft reportedly added a “Co-Authored-by Copilot” attribution line to Git commits made through Visual Studio Code, including cases where developers had disabled Copilot AI features.
  • The change was described as being “sneaked” in quietly, implying a lack of explicit user consent or clear visibility to affected developers.
  • The article highlights a potential trust and transparency issue around how AI tooling affects authorship metadata in developer workflows.
  • The incident raises questions about whether attribution is being applied consistently with user settings and expected AI-off behavior.

Microsoft quietly slipped a "Co-Authored-by Copilot" line into Git commits in Visual Studio Code - even for developers who had turned off the AI features entirely.

The article Microsoft caught sneaking "Co-Authored-by Copilot" into VS Code commits - even with AI off appeared first on The Decoder.